HYDERABAD: A Hyderabad court has issued non-bailable warrants against Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya and the defunct company’s chief financial officer, A Raghunath.
Fourteenth additional chief metropolitan magistrate G S Ramesh Kumar ordered police to produce them before the court on April 13 while issuing the warrants.
The warrants were issued after GMR Hyderabad International Airport filed a petition seeking Mallya’s prosecution for defaulting on payments and cheating the company by issuing cheques that bounced.
The airport officials had filed 11 cases in Hyderabad against the airline under provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act. GMR lawyer, G Ashok Reddy, said the amount involved Rs 8 crore.
Kumar issued the warrants in connection with Rs 50 lakh bounced cheque.
The court had earlier directed Mallya, the CFO and the company’s authorised signatory to appear before it on March 10.
None of the them appeared while Mallya’s lawyer filed a petition seeking either exemption or some more time.
But GMR’s lawyer opposed it and told the court about the attorney general statement before the Supreme Court a day earlier about Mallya flight from the country despite a lookout notice against him.
“This is not a case where a routine adjournment can be given,” Reddy told the court. The judge agreed with him while dismissing Mallya’s plea.