SC sentences Vijay Mallya to 4 months in jail

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Nakul Shivani • 1 Years ago
Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya

 

New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Monday sentenced fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to a four month jail term. He was found guilty of contempt of court in 2017 for withholding information from it.

The court also directed Mallya to return USD 40 million with interest within four weeks failure of which would lead to the seizure of his properties.

Earlier on July 9, the apex court, during the hearing, had noted that Mallya behaves like ‘a free person’ in the United Kingdom and no information was forthcoming about the proceedings concerning Mallya there.

Last year, the top court while saying that it has waited ‘long enough’ and cannot ‘wait longer now’ for Mallya to get extradited from the United Kingdom to India, decided to go ahead with the hearing on the quantum of punishment in the contempt case against him.

The top court had held Mallya guilty of contempt of court for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the court's order and sought his presence before it on various occasions.

On February 10, the Supreme Court granted the last opportunity of two weeks for Mallya to personally present himself or through his counsel in the contempt case against him.

Previously the Centre had informed the top court that legal complexities in the United Kingdom are preventing the extradition of Mallya, but the government of India is making all efforts and doing its best to extradite him.

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Mallya is accused of a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is presently in the United Kingdom.