Supreme Court awards 4-month imprisonment to Vijay Mallya in contempt case

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 11

The Supreme Court on Monday awarded four-month sentence to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya in a contempt of court case and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.

A Bench led by Justice UU Lalit also ordered him to deposit USD 40 million he had transferred to his family violating the top court's orders in 2015. In case, he doesn't deposit back the amount, his properties can be attached.

He was held guilty of contempt of court in 2017 and the matter has been getting deferred as the top court wanted to hear him on the punishment to be awarded to him.

The top court had reserved the judgment on March 10 after hearing senior advocate and amicus curiae Jaideep Gupta.

An accused in a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, Mallya has been in the UK since March 2016. He is on bail in connection with an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard in April 2017.

On February 10, the Bench had given the fugitive businessman the last opportunity to appear before it -- either personally or through his lawyer.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had earlier submitted that the court has inherent jurisdiction in contempt cases and that it has given enough opportunity to Mallya, who has chosen not to appear so far.

Noting that it can’t wait any longer for Mallya's extradition from the UK, the Supreme Court had on November 30, 2021, decided to go ahead with the proceedings to decide the quantum of sentence to be awarded to him for contempt of court.

“We cannot wait anymore now. Proceedings for extradition have attained finality and the respondent no. 3 (Mallya) has exhausted all avenues of appeal in the United Kingdom. The matter (sentencing in contempt case) shall be dealt with finally on January 18, 2022,” the Bench had said.

Earlier, it had dismissed his plea seeking review of the 2017 verdict which held him guilty of contempt for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of court orders. On August 31 last year, the top court had directed him to appear before it on October 5, 2020.

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