By Ritika Jain
The Supreme Court on Monday sentenced fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to four months in prison and imposed a fine of 2000 rupees in the 2017 case where he was found guilty of contempt of court.
The top court also directed Mallya to deposit the $40 million with 8 percent interest within four weeks failing which, authorities have been tasked with initiating recovery proceedings against his properties.
The court observed that Mallya showed no remorse for his conduct.
The Supreme Court in 2017 held Mallya in contempt for making "vague and unclear" disclosures of his assets in the case pertaining to the dispute between State Bank of India (SBI) and Kingfisher, and diverting US$ 40 million to his children in "flagrant violation" of Karnataka High Court orders.
Earlier this year in March, the bench led by Justice UU Lalit had reserved its judgment on sentencing in Mallya's contempt case. The arguments in the top court took place ex parte since Mallya refused to join proceedings despite being given several opportunities.
The Centre had submitted that though the United Kingdom had allowed Mallya's extradition, he could not be brought back to India because of some ongoing "secret" proceedings pending against him, the details of which were unknown to the Indian government.
In 2014, Mallya was declared a wilful defaulter after he failed to repay loans amounting to Rs. 6000 crore to various banks. Two years later, Mallya fled to the UK hours before a consortium of banks sought his detention. In 2017, the Indian government sent an extradition request to the UK. In April, the UK courts allowed this request. Last year in July, the Insolvency and Companies Court of the London high court granted a bankruptcy order against Mallya.
