Arrest warrant issued for Mallya

12/10/2012

A week after his Kingfisher Airline was forced to suspend all flights, an arrest warrant has been issued against Force India owner Vijay Mallya.

The warrant, which is non-bailable, was issued earlier today in the city of Hyderabad and relates to cheques issued to the operator of Hyderabad International Airport, which subsequently bounced.

"The cases were listed today for the airline to appear in the court," a spokesman for the complainant in the case, airport operator GHIAL, told AFP. "Since they failed to appear before the magistrate, the court has ordered issuance of NBW (non-bailable warrants) against Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), Vijay Mallya and four other KFA officials."

The cheques, which totalled 105 million rupees (£1.25m) were issued to settle user fees at the airport, which is run by the Indian infrastructure group GMR.

The warrant comes two weeks before the F1 circus heads to India.