If Vijay Mallya returns, he may face arrest

New Delhi: Is Vijay Mallya out of the country to avoid possible arrest?

From all available accounts, Mallya has been staying away from the country of his origin - where he runs multiple businesses such as liquor, fertilisers and a near-defunct airline - as the fear of arrest in now getting real. The airline is bankrupt, and a suicide has been reported by the spouse of a Kingfisher staffer, allegedly over non-payment of salaries for the last seven moths.

According to a report on NDTV, a non-bailable warrant (NBW) was issued against Mallya by a Hyderabad court today in a case filed by airport operators GMR. Five more NBWs have been issued in the name of Kingfisher Airlines’ management. This report says Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 40 crore to Delhi airport, which is run by GMR, and a cheque for Rs 10 crore issued by Kingfisher to GMR towards this payment has bounced.

This news comes on a day when the management - more precisely, the operations wing- went back and forth over whether to announce a further closure of operations since Kingfisher has not been able to file a reply to the show-cause notice by aviation regulator DGCA on why its licence should not either be cancelled or suspended.

Finally, a short mail from the operations wing of the airline told people at various airports that “In view of operational reasons, all flights across the network stand cancelled from October 15 to October 20th”.

But the Kingfisher drama does not end there. In a related development, DGCA boss Arun Mishra told some reporters he might consider extending the deadline for replying to the show cause notice by another fortnight. Why should the regulator show such leniency when the airline’s chairman has not once bothered to address the concerns of employees and its top management has not reverted with a plan of action?

A senior Kingfisher pilot said that despite promises by the management that it would come forward with a proposal on salary dues today, nothing had been forthcoming till now.

Now that NBWs have been issued against Mallya and the management, perhaps the airline will come clean on its future plans, if any.