CBI files fresh case against Mallya over Rs 6,027-cr fraud

NEW DELHI: More trouble is in the offing for liquor baron Vijay Mallya with the CBI on Saturday registering a fresh case against him on charges of cheating a consortium

NEW DELHI: More trouble is in the offing for liquor baron Vijay Mallya with the CBI on Saturday registering a fresh case against him on charges of cheating a consortium of 17 banks of Rs 6,027 crore.

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“A regular case was registered under section 420 (cheating) and 120-B (conspiracy to cheat) of the Indian Penal Code against Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines Limited, and United Breweries Holdings Limited and unknown others in this connection,” said CBI press information officer RK Gaur.

The case was registered following a complaint from the banks to the CBI.

As the multi-agency probe went underway, Mallya left for the UK and has been living there since.

The agency has alleged that between 2005 and 2010, a consortium of 17 banks lent Rs 6,027 crore to Kingfisher Airlines Limited, the company that ran the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, following a corporate guarantee from the United Breweries Holdings Limited and a personal guarantee from Mallya.

The banks provided various credit facilities to the airlines in this regard. Some of the amount was repaid by Kingfisher in order to enhance Mallya’s credit facilities as well. But due to non-payment even after debt restructuring, the banks later declared the loan as a non-performing asset and invoked the guarantees, alleged CBI.

Before the current case, the agency had also registered a case against Mallya in connection with a loan of Rs 900 crore provided by the IDBI bank to the airlines.