Facing New Risk, Vijay Mallya ‘Sends Feelers’ About Return: Officials
NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya, the embattled tycoon wanted in India on loan default and money-laundering charges, is reported to have sent feelers to central agencies and the government that he is willing to come back to the country to face the law, sources in the Enforcement Directorate, which fights financial crimes, have said.
Officials have indicated that the offer was prompted by the government's decision to invoke a brand-new law to confiscate his assets in Delhi.
The former liquor baron is the first person to face a case in a Mumbai court under the country's brand-new law that empowers courts to order seizure of properties left behind by fugitives who flee the country. The Enforcement Directorate had last month asked a Mumbai court to declare Vijay Mallya as a fugitive under this law.
There has been no comment from Vijay Mallya to reports of his offer to return.
The 62-year-old former liquor baron had earlier contested India's request to extradite him from Britain to face charges of fraud and money laundering in India.
A court in London is hearing the case of Indian investigators for the liquor tycoon's extradition to face trial in India.
The flamboyant businessman left India in 2016 when the banks were attempting to recover nearly Rs. 9,000 crores in unpaid loans to Kingfisher Airlines, a premium airline he started in 2005 and shut down seven years later.
Last month, he had offered to settle all his outstanding dues in a case being heard by the Karnataka High Court. He later told news agency Reuters that the assets placed before the high court were worth $ 2 billion which was much more than sufficient to repay creditors.
He had also rejected suggestions that it was linked to moves to declare him a fugitive under the new law.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Mumbai had last month issued summons to the beleaguered businessman to appear before it on August 27 on the Enforcement Directorate's plea seeking action against him under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance in the over Rs. 9,000 crore bank fraud case.
The central probe agency, as part of this action, has also sought immediate confiscation of assets worth around Rs. 12,500 crore of Mallya.
If he does not appear before the court or respond to its summons on the designated date, Mallya risks being declared a fugitive economic offender, besides properties linked to him being confiscated.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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LPG crisis: Karnataka temples gear up to stock wooden logs for ‘Prasada’
Bengaluru (PTI): Temples in Karnataka have started preparations to stock wooden logs fearing that the LPG shortage could hamper the ‘Prasada’ preparation and distributions to the devotees.
The looming LPG crisis in the state in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict has made the temple managements jittery.
According to the Akhila Karnataka Hindu Temple Archakas Federation (AKHTAF) president M S Venkatachalaiah, there is no immediate crisis in the temples.
“We have LPG cylinder stock that can last for a week but if this scarcity continues then there will be a problem in serving Prasada (offerings to the deity) to the devotees,” AKHTAF president said.
He added that many temples in the state have started stocking wooden logs to overcome the LPG crisis.
“Our temples have started preparing to store wooden logs to prepare Prasada though currently we don’t have a problem, at least for a week,” Venkatachalaiah told PTI.
Another priest working in a temple belonging to the state Endowment Department said the temples may have to go back to the traditional way of cooking as done in the ancient time using wood.
The LPG crisis has not affected the mid-day meal programme for government school students yet, though there was a meeting in the Education Department to find ways to tackle if crisis deepens, sources associated with the Mid-day Meal programme said.
Meanwhile, the largest partner of the Mid-day Meal programme in the country is Akshaya Patra.
The NGO said they do not depend much on LPG gas cylinder.
“The LPG crisis has not affected us. Our kitchens are steam-based, and we generate steam through boilers which run on electricity. That’s point number one. Point number two—gas is used only for very minor things, mainly for seasoning. That is the tadka,” an Akshaya Patra executive told PTI.
According to him, the NGO has has a gas reserves for about nearly one month across India, though gas is used in very small quantities every day.
He pointed out that the Mid-day meal programme will not be affected because in one or one-and-a-half weeks, schools will close owing to summer vacation.
Akshaya Patra feeds 23.5 lakh children across more than 24,000 schools across India, in 16 states and three Union Territories, he said.
