Vijay Mallya Sentenced To 4 Months' Jail By Apex court for Court Contempt

Vijay Mallya is an accused in a very loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The Supreme Court today sentenced fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya to four months in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him for a 2017 contempt of court case. He was convicted of contempt in 2017 over transferring $40 million to his children in violation of court orders. The fine is to be deposited within four weeks to the Supreme Court legal services authority, failing which an additional sentence of two months are added, the court said.

"To uphold the majesty of justice, we must impose adequate punishment," judges said.

The country's top court also said that the transaction of 40 million dollars by Vijay Mallya to his children is "void and inoperable", ordering the recipients to return the number with 8% interest to the recovery officer within four weeks. If the quantity isn't returned, Vijay Mallya's properties are often attached.

"If this can be not deposited, the recovery officer can take appropriate actions for recovery of the said amount and therefore the government of India and every one agencies should assist in this process," the judicial writ said.

A bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha passed the order.

A plea by a consortium of banks led by the bank of India (SBI) sought contempt action and a direction to Vijay Mallya to deposit $40 million received from offshore firm Diageo.

Banks had alleged that Vijay Mallya concealed the facts and diverted the cash to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya in "flagrant violation" of the orders gone the Karnataka court

Vijay Mallya is an accused during a loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

The Supreme Court had reserved its orders on the sentence on March 10. 

Vijay Mallya was held guilty on two counts - of not disclosing assets and violating expressive orders of restraint glided by the Karnataka state supreme court. He has been within the UK since March 2016.

The hearing had taken place within the absence of Vijay Mallya who fled to the uk.

The Centre had earlier informed the court that though extradition of Vijay Mallya from the united kingdom has been allowed, he couldn't be delivered to India visible of some "secret" proceedings pending against him there, the main points of which aren't known to the Centre.

The court had deferred the hearing some times to relinquish Vijay Mallya a chance to look but had ultimately decided to proceed in his absence in light of his refusal to seem.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta was appointed as an consultant (friend of the court) within the case to help the court within the 'in absentia' hearing.