Supreme Court sentenced businessman Vijay Mallya to 4 months imprisonment in contempt of court case

Supreme Court sentenced businessman Vijay Mallya to 4 months imprisonment in a contempt of court case

The Supreme Court on Monday sentenced fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to four months in jail in the Rs 9,000-crore Kingfisher Airlines loan default case.

He was found guilty of contempt of court and fined Rs 2,000 for disobeying the order of the court.

The court ordered Mallya and his son Siddharth to pay back $40 million with 8 percent interest to repay the loan. Failure to pay will result in the attachment of Mallya's assets.

Earlier, the Supreme Court, during the hearing, had observed that Mallya was acting as an "independent person" in the UK and had not received any information about activities related to Mallya there.

Amicus curiae, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, bench assistant in the case, submitted that Mallya was guilty of two counts - non-disclosure of assets and violation of express restraining orders of the Karnataka High Court.

Last year, the Supreme Court said it had waited "enough" and "can't wait now" to extradite Mallya from England to India, deciding to proceed with the hearing on the quantum of punishment in the contempt case.

The Supreme Court held Mallya guilty of contempt of court for transferring US$40 million to his children in defiance of a court order.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared on behalf of the Ministry of External Affairs, clarified that it was not the position of the Government of India that the case was being conducted secretly in England, but it was informed to the Government of England. It cannot be shared.

Earlier, Mehta had given a document to the Ministry of External Affairs' Under-Secretary, which said that the process to extradite Mallya from the UK to India had reached its final stage, but some "secret proceedings" were pending in the UK. , the details of which are not known.

The Center also said Mallya had already exhausted all avenues of appeal in the UK.

The Center had earlier told the Supreme Court that legal issues in the UK are preventing the extradition of fugitive Mallya, but the Indian government is making all efforts to extradite him.

The banks then alleged that Mallya concealed the facts and returned the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Liana Mallya and Tanya Mallya in flagrant violation of Karnataka High Court orders.