BREAKING| Supreme Court To Pronounce Sentence Of Vijay Mallya For Contempt Of Court On July 11

The Supreme Court will pronounce the sentence of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya for contempt of court for violation of court orders on July 11.

A bench comprising Justices U U Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha had reserved orders on the sentence on March 10. The hearing proceeded in the absence of Mallya, who has absconded to the United Kingdom. The Union of India had earlier informed the Court that though extradition of Mallya from the United Kingdom has been allowed, he could not be brought to India in view of some "secret" proceedings pending against him there, the details of which are not known to the Union Government.

Although the Court deferred the sentence hearing few times to give an opportunity to Mallya to appear, it ultimately decided to proceed in his absence in view of his refusal to appear. Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta was appointed as an amicus curiae in the case to assist the court in the in absentia hearing.

Mallya was found guilty in 2017 for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the orders passed in a case filed by the State Bank of India.

Mallya, an accused in bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines, is in the United Kingdom.

The apex court's 2017 order had come on a plea by consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), which had said that Mallya had allegedly transferred USD 40 million received from British firm Diageo, to his children in "flagrant violation" of various judicial orders.

It was dealing with pleas of lending banks seeking contempt action and a direction to Mallya to deposit USD 40 million received from offshore firm Diageo respectively.

The banks had then alleged that Mallya concealed the facts and diverted the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya in "flagrant violation" of the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court.