NEW DELHI: A city court on Saturday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against business tycoon Vijay Mallya in a 2012 bounced-cheque case and directed the agencies to take coercive steps to ensure his appearance in the court.
Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand directed the probing agencies to produce Mallya in court on November 4, 2016, and asked them to send the non-bailable warrant to him through the Ministry of External Affairs. Mallya, who is currently residing in the UK, left India on March 2. His passport has been revoked and he was declared as a willful defaulter.
The court also noted that despite repeated orders, Mallya did not appear in the court and it was inevitable for the state machinery to intervene and ensure his presence in the court.
The trial court had summoned Mallya as accused following a complaint by DIAL, which operates the capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, claiming that a cheque for Rs 1 crore issued by Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) on February 22, 2012 was returned to them a month later containing remarks “fund insufficient”. DIAL had filed four cases in June 2012 against Mallya after cheques issued by KFA totalling Rs 7.5 crore were not honoured.
The grounded airline had issued the cheques towards payment for services availed by it at the IGI airport in New Delhi. Interestingly, on May 11 this year, Britain told India that it cannot deport Mallya but could consider an extradition request for him. The extradition could happen under the 1993 treaty or any other necessary assistance under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed in 1992 between India and the UK.
Earlier, Mallya also received a non-bailable warrant from a Hyderabad court after he failed to be present in court in connection with alleged dishonour of a cheque of Rs 50 lakh to GMR Hyderabad International Airport.According to the GMR counsel, a total of 17 cases have been filed against KFA over an outstanding amount of Rs 22.5 crore owed to GMR. Adding to it, a non-bailable warrant was issued against Mallya under PMLA in connection with the IDBI loan fraud case. Mallya had also ignored three summons of the Enforcement Directorate wherein he has been accused of diverting Rs 430 crore from Rs 900 crore borrowed by the KFA.