Mumbai special court rejects Mallya's plea seeking stay on declaring him fugitive

Mumbai, Nov 29: Mumbai court on Thursday rejected Vijay Mallya's plea seeking stay on hearing of Enforcement Directorate's application to declare him a fugitive.

The decision from the judicature came after five parties, including a family member of Mallya, sought court dossiers with regard to the ED seeking to get Mallya declared a fugitive economic offender under the new law. The special courts, under the new law, have a right to declare a person a fugitive economic offender.

A fugitive economic offender is a person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for committing a scheduled offence and who has left India to avoid criminal prosecution, or being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.

The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, who has been on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores.

Mallya has been living in Britain since March 2016. The extradition case has entered final stages with Westminster Magistrates' Court in London likely to pronounce a verdict in December this year.

The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against the embattled liquor tycoon, who has been based in the UK since he left India in March 2016.

It also seeks to prove there are no "bars to extradition" and that the tycoon is assured a fair trial in India over his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines' alleged default of over Rs 9,000 crores in loans from a consortium of Indian banks.