ED writes to MEA seeking Mallya's deportation

Agency wants liquor baron back for probe

 Armed with a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, the ED has approached the External Affairs Ministry seeking initiation of deportation proceedings against Vijay Mallya.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) wants the liquor baron back in India in connection with its money laundering probe against him in the Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case.

The agency has written to MEA and will also soon write to the CBI to get an Interpol Red Corner Notice issued against the Rajya Sabha MP to get him arrested, based on the NBW directed by a Mumbai court.

Only last week, the MEA had suspended Mallya’s diplomatic passport and sought a reply from him as to why his passport should not be revoked. The ED said the businessman was not cooperating in the probe in the said case under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Sources said once the deportation proceedings are initiated, the MEA will seek assistance of their counterparts in the United Kingdom to interdict Mallya and fly him back to India. “The grounds for deportation are primarily two. A non-bailable warrant issued by the Mumbai court and suspension of the passport of the businessman,” they said.
Mallya is understood to be in the UK after he left India on March 2.

A Hyderabad court had on Wednesday convicted Mallya in a cheque-bouncing case filed against him by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.

With the latest request for deportation, the ED has virtually deployed all legal measures in place to bring back Mallya to India and make him join investigations “in person”, which the agency had stated in a Mumbai court was essential to take the probe forward in the case.

The 60-year-old industrialist has skipped three summons issued by the ED in this regard in the past. He had also sought time till May to depose before agency investigators.