Cheque bounce case against Vijay Mallya adjourned to July 5

Hyderabad: A local court today adjourned to July 5 its order on two cheque bounce cases filed against beleaguered industrialist Vijay Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.

The III Special Magistrate Court here is yet to pronounce its order on the quantum of sentence for Mallya, who was convicted in two cheque bounce cases.

On April 20, the court had convicted Mallya and others in connection with bouncing of two cheques of Rs 50 lakh each under relevant sections of Negotiable Instruments Act.

It had issued warrants directing the police to produce Mallya before it to pronounce the quantum of punishment, as the industrialist, who left the country, was not present in the court.

The Mumbai Police had earlier filed a report before the court saying the warrants could not be executed on the address of the accused as it was sealed by a bank and there were no Kingfisher officials/ employees at the premises, and hence the warrants were returned.

Following this, Judge M Krishna Rao today adjourned the matter to July 5 with a direction to the complainant (GHIAL) to furnish correct address of the accused for issuance of fresh warrants.

Earlier, during hearing on quantum of sentence, GMR lawyer G Ashok Reddy had insisted that the court pass the sentence against Mallya, citing certain provisions of CrPC and saying the court has power to impose sentence even in absence of accused.

The matter relates to cheques issued by Kingfisher Airlines Ltd to GHIAL, which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here, towards charges for using the facilities at the airport for its Kingfisher Airlines flights.

The court had earlier issued non-bailable warrants against the Kingfisher Airlines, its chairman Vijay Mallya and senior company official A Raghunathan.

As per the GMR counsel, a total of 17 cases have been filed against Kingfisher Airlines in different courts over outstanding amount of Rs 22.5 crore which it owes to GMR, and the cases are in different stages of trial.