Indian court issues an arrest warrant for Vijay Mallya – Formula 1
A Court in India has issued an arrest warrant against Vijay Mallya who is the team principal for the Formula 1 racing team Force India.
A local sessions court in the city of Hyderabad was responsible for issuing this non-bailable warrant against Mallya when he failed to respond to court summons in a case troubling his financially falling Kingfisher airlines. The warrant also includes four
other executives.
The case was brought against the airlines by an operator of the Hyderabad airport, who claims that the cheques worth 105 million rupees given to him by the airline bounced. Kingfisher airlines have been dealing with debt crises lately. It has also been troubled
by the strikes announced by its pilots and engineers who have been complaining about unpaid salaries. Following the crises, the airlines were forced into a shut down. It has not resumed business for almost two weeks now and has already extended the date of
reopening till the 21st of this month.
Mallya, who is 56, is known to the world as an Indian billionaire, industrialist, liquor and airline baron. He is also the second time member of Indian parliament. He named his airlines after his famous beer brand of Kingfisher. The airlines itself have
not brought Mallya any advantage since it was formed in 2005. It has been buried in debts and unpaid taxes worth billions of dollars. It also owes to the staff which remains unpaid since April. The issue of unpaid wages has become serious since the wife of
an airline technician committed suicide over financial stress caused by her husband’s unpaid salary. Efforts to bring back the staff to resume work have gone in vain and if the circumstances continue the way they are, Kingfisher airlines might be looking forward
to the cancellation of their license.
Lawyers for Kingfisher had tried to convince the court not to issue the warrant but were refused by Judge Kedara Chary, as stated according to a report by an Indian news agency. The whereabouts Mallya remain unknown at this time but as Force India heads
to Greater Noida in two weeks, the issue can become a cause of hindrance.
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