Unable to say when I’ll return, barred from leaving UK, Mallya tells Bombay HC

Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot provide a definite timeline for his return to India, citing the revocation of his passport and legal restrictions in the UK .

A statement from Mallya was submitted by his lawyer Amit Desai in response to a bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad , which had indicated last week that it would refuse to hear Mallya’s petitions challenging his “fugitive economic offender” status unless he clarified his plans to return to face trial.

Based in the UK since 2016, Mallya has filed two petitions in the high court, one questioning the order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and another challenging the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act . The 70-year-old liquor baron faces allegations of defaulting on loans worth several thousand crores and money laundering charges.

Mallya’s legal team argued that his absence is compelled by international legal constraints , not choice. They highlighted that his Indian passport was revoked in 2016 , and that English and Welsh courts prohibit him from leaving the UK .

“ Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales , nor possess any international travel document. He is therefore unable to state when he will return to India,” Desai read before the court. He added that Mallya’s physical presence is not necessary for the high court to hear his pleas, as appearing in India would render the proceedings moot, given the provisions of the Act.

The bench has directed the Union government to file its response and posted the matter for further hearing next month. Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) . He left India in March 2016.