A court in Mumbai on Saturday reserved its order on a non-bailable arrest warrant against embattled businessman Vijay Mallya till April 18.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating Mallya for money laundering in a Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank loan fraud case, moved the special court seeking a warrant against him.
The government has already suspended his diplomatic passport for a month.
Mallya, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, failed to appear before the ED in Mumbai despite three summons, leading to the central agency seeking the revocation of passport.
Read: Why did the Centre allow Mallya to leave in the first place: Congress
Mallya is being prosecuted for loans taken to fund Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) that was grounded in 2012. The former liquor baron first took loans from IDBI bank in 2006. In 2009, he also received loans from a consortium of 17 banks. However, the loans were never repaid, with the banks terming Mallya a ‘wilful defaulter’.
As the consortium sought to recover the dues, Mallya left the country on March 2, and is believed to have gone to the UK.
{{/usCountry}}As the consortium sought to recover the dues, Mallya left the country on March 2, and is believed to have gone to the UK.
{{/usCountry}}On March 30, Mallya’s counsel told the Supreme Court that he offered to pay Rs.4,000 crore to settle outstanding dues against the grounded KFA on account of loans extended by the consortium, headed by the SBI. The banks, however, turned down Mallya’s offer.
Read: Govt had nothing to do with Mallya’s case, says Jaitley