Has Vijay Mallya already left the country ahead of SC hearing?

Mumbai: Former UB group chairman Vijay Mallya has left the country even after a consortium of 13 banks moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday to restrain him from leaving the country, and for his arrest and presence in courts in India, according to reports.

According to several reports, CBI sources have hinted that Mallya is presently not in the country and has possibly fled to London. There has been no confirmation from his office on the same.

The banks led by the State Bank of India had requested the Supreme Court to stop him from going abroad as they claimed that he owed the banks over Rs 9,000 crores from the now defunct King Fisher airlines.

The banks sought an order for impounding his passport, which would curtail his movements in and out of the country without court permission. Earlier, Mallya had publicly declared his intention to stay in London to back the banks' claim of him leaving the country.

Once he is allowed to leave the country he may not come back to India, said the banks through Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who was representing the banks.

Rohatagi told a Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Uday Lalit that  there were high chances of him (Mallya) escaping the country after he revealed the liquor giants Diageo would be paying him Rs 515 crore for the UB Spirits deal.

The AG said that the Tribunal stopped him from withdrawing the amount from Diageo, but did not pass any order to freeze his passport.

Even the Karnataka High Court refused to give any interim order to freeze Mallya’s passport after the banks approached it.