Vijay Mallya wants to return, but his passport revoked, lawyer tells court

NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya wants to return to India but he is “incapacitated” to travel as his passport has been revoked by the Indian authorities, the liquor baron’s

NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya wants to return to India but he is “incapacitated” to travel as his passport has been revoked by the Indian authorities, the liquor baron’s counsel told a city court on Friday.

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Chief metropolitan magistrate Sumit Dass, who had directed Mallya to be present before him in a case of alleged violation of foreign exchange rules, was informed that he was “making all efforts to have the revocation of passport set aside”. Mallya, currently in London, sought exemption from appearance in court on the ground that he is not been able to travel to India without a passport.

“... ever since the revocation of his passport, the applicant (Mallya) has been staying in London and is not in possession of any requisite travel document, which could possibly enable him to travel to India,” Mallya’s counsel said. Mallya said he was shocked to learn in April that his passport was suspended by the Indian Passport Authority without giving him a “personal hearing”. Mallya said he was making all the efforts to have the revocation of his passport set aside.

Advocate NK Matta, appearing for ED, however, told court that Mallya was evading proceedings in several other cases and sought time to reply to the plea moved by him.