Non-bailable warrant issued against Mallya

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is in for more trouble after a court on Monday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him in the Rs 900-crore IDBI loan fraud case. This comes days after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) suspended his passport and asked him why it should not be revoked.

The warrant came after the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the money laundering case arising out of the loan fraud case, approached the special court in Mumbai.

“Special Court PMLA issues Non Bailable Warrant of Arrest against Vijay Mallya (sic),” the ED tweeted. On Saturday, the ED had told the court that out of the loan amount given to Mallya’s now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines by the IDBI, Rs



430 crore was diverted and spent on purchase of property abroad.  The Kingfisher Airlines’s lawyer rebutted this claim in the court.

The money laundering case was filed by the ED based on a CBI FIR, which found irregularities in awarding the loan to Mallya, when his credit ratings was in the negative.

The government is exerting pressure on Mallya, a Rajya Sabha MP, who left for the United Kingdom (UK) on March 2 amid a growing controversy over around Rs 9,000 crore he owes to a consortium of banks. 

Mallya had also refused to appear before the ED despite three summons in the past one month following which the agency approached the MEA for revocation of his passport.