Enforcement Directorate contemplating red corner notice against Mallya

New Delhi, Apr 19: The Enforcement Directorate is contemplating having a red corner alert issued against former UB group chairman Vijay Mallya.

The decision by the ED comes in the wake of a Mumbai court on Monday issuing a non bailable warrant against Mallya on charges of money laundering.

The ED had moved the special court seeking a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mallya on the allegation that he had diverted almost half of the Rs 950 crore bank loan abroad to purchase property. This was however denied by Kingfisher Airlines in the court, but their contention was rejected.

Red corner alert likely

The ED is in talks with its legal department on the future course of action. In the wake of his passport being suspended and now a non-bailable warrant being issued, the ED is contemplating having an Interpol red corner notice issued against him.

Last week Mallya's diplomatic passport had been suspended. The passport division of the Ministry for External Affairs had said that it would give Mallya a week's time to respond failing which the passport would be impounded or revoked.

This would be followed by a move to have Mallya extradited to India. He is believed to be in London.

The ED would next inform the authorities in the UK about the recent developments. We will need to appraise the UK authorities about the warrant that has been issued against him so that this could facilitate his deportation to India, an ED officer informed.

The ED would also consider sending a letter rogatory through a court in India so that a formal request could be made to have Mallya deported, the officer also informed.

OneIndia News