In a case involving contempt of court from 2017, the Supreme Court today jailed fugitive liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya to four months in jail and assessed him a fine of Rs 2,000. The court stated that if the fine is not paid within four weeks to the Supreme Court legal services authority, a second two-month sentence will be added.
A group of banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), filed a petition asking for Vijay Mallya to be held in contempt of court and ordered to deposit $40 million that he had received from the offshore company Diageo.
In “flagrant disobedience” of the Karnataka High Court’s orders, banks claimed that Vijay Mallya hid the truth and directed the money to his children Siddharth Mallya, Leanna Mallya, and Tanya Mallya.
VIjay Mallya is a defendant in a bank debt default action concerning his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines that involves approximately Rs 9,000 crore.
On March 10, the Supreme Court announced that it had reserved judgement on the matter.Vijay Mallya’s extradition from the UK has been approved, although the Centre had previously notified the court that he could not be transferred to India because of “secret” proceedings that are ongoing there that it is not aware of.
The hearing had been postponed a few times to give Vijay Mallya a chance to show up, but the court ultimately chose to continue without him because of his failure to do so.
Senior attorney Jaideep Gupta was chosen to represent the court as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) at the “in absentia” hearing.
Mallya’s request for a review of the 2017 judgement that found him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 million to his children in breach of court orders was denied by the Supreme Court in 2020.
