Vijay Mallya case: CBI court issues non-bailable warrant

Mumbai: A court in Mumbai on Tuesday issued a non-bailable warrant against businessman Vijay Mallya in the IDBI Bank loan default case as the CBI sought his extradition from the UK.

“The court issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya after we filed an affidavit seeking his extradition from the UK,” said a CBI official, adding the warrant will be sent to that country through diplomatic channels.

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Special judge for CBI cases H.S. Mahajan issued the NBW after the agency’s affidavit provided Mallya’s precise address in the UK. “Earlier too, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him but then we did not know his location,” the official said.

On 24 January, CBI filed a charge sheet in IDBI loan default case against nine people arrested a day earlier: former chairman of IDBI Bank Yogesh Aggarwal, former CFO of the Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) A Raghunathan, IDBI executives O.V. Bundellu, S.K.V. Srinivasan, R.S. Sridhar, B.K. Batra and Kingfisher executives Shailesh Borke, A.C. Shah and Amit Nadkarni. It left out Mallya, as he is yet to be arrested.

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CBI said undue favours were shown to KFA in the sanctioning and disbursal of loans of Rs1,300 crore and there were many acts of omission and commission on the part of IDBI Bank officials in the process. About Rs260 crore of the borrowed amount was diverted by KFA, while Rs263 crore were used to pay salaries, TDS, income tax and loan instalments.

A part of the loan amount was also diverted by Mallya for his “personal expenses”, the CBI charge sheet said. The court also heard the arguments on bail applications of the accused, all of whom are now in judicial custody. The hearing would continue on 3 February.