Vijay Mallya's diplomatic passport suspended

New Delhi, April 15: Following a request by the Enforcement Directorate the diplomatic passport of Vijay Mallya had been suspended.

It is alleged that he had flown out of India on a diplomatic passport. The passport issuing authority in the ministry for external affairs suspended Mallya's passport with immediate effect for a period of four weeks under Section 10 A of the Passports Act of 1967.

Mallya has been asked to respond within one week as to why his passport should not be impounded or revoked under Section 10 (3)(c) of the Passports Act of 1967. If he fails to respond within the stipulated time, it will be assumed that he has no response to offer and the ministry for external affairs will go ahead with the revocation.

On Wednesday the Enforcement Directorate had asked the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Delhi to revoke Mallya's passport after he failed to appear before the probe agency.

The charge againsy Mallya is that he had allegedly misappropriated Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank for the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. The ED had also accused him of conspiring with banks officials to get the loan sanctioned.

The ED had issued three summons to him. However all three times he sought time stating that he was in talks with the banks to reach a final settlement.

Mallya had offered to settle Rs 4,000 crore with the banks. However the consortium of banks told the Supreme Court that they were rejecting the offer as the loan amount was nearly Rs 8,000 crore. The banks also said that unless a substantial amount is paid they would not negotiate. Mallya sought time to come up with a fresh proposal.

OneIndia News