A day after the Enforcement Directorate sent a deportation request of Vijay Mallya, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has reacted by saying that that the government is consulting experts before deciding the next step.
"Mallya has responded through his lawyer. MEA had received the request from ED. They have requested for deportation for Mallya to ensure the process. We are consulting legal expert on the next step," said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup.
On the revocation of Mallya's passport, the ministry, which has "suspended" his passport, said it was examining the reply sent by him while declining to divulge its contents.
Noting that the ministry has been approached by the Enforcement Directorate which informed about the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against Mallya by a Sessions Court in Greater Mumbai, Swarup said a request has been made to initiate steps for his deportation to ensure his presence before the legal authorities to proceed with investigation against him. Now "we are consulting legal experts," he said.
He said ED has approached MEA for the revocation of Mallya's passport as well as his deportation. "Those two actions are underway," he said. Paralleled, the ministry was also examining the response provided by Mallya through his lawyer to the show-cause notice asking why his passport should not be impounded or revoked, he said.
Sources had already indicated that once the deportation proceedings are initiated, the government will seek assistance of the United Kingdom to interdict Mallya and fly him back to India.
"The grounds for deportation are primarily two. A non-bailable warrant issued by the Mumbai court and suspension of the passport of the businessman," they said. Mallya is understood to be in the UK after he left India on March 2.
Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines has allegedly defaulted on bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore.
With PTI Inputs.
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