There was no reason to believe Mallya was a flight risk: CBI

A search notice against the fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya, calling for his custody on spotting at airports, was diluted months before he left for London from India amidst the investigations underway for loan frauds against him. After Mallya’s sensational claim about meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before leaving, questions have been posed about the notice and why he was permitted to leave. The CBI says the notice that was rolled out on October 16, 2015, was converted after a month on 24^th November into a notice for “report on arrival” since it did not believe Mallya was a flight risk. However, Mallya, at that point in time used to travel frequently between India and UK.

The investigation agency said that the first notice was a “mistake” and immigration branch of Mumbai had checked the detention column at the time of filling the form.

The notice was issued after the CBI had registered its first case against Mallya on 29^th July 2015, based on the information that it got from sources. More so, no bank had made a formal complaint, said the agency. Mallya was in London when the notice was issued in the month of October.

He returned the day the notice was relegated and left again on December 1.

The CBI says it received a call from immigration the day before he arrived, on November 23, asking whether Mr Mallya should be detained. That’s when a modified lookout circular was put out.

Mr Mallya left again for London on December 1 and returned on December 7. He left on December 23.

He returned on February 2, 2016, and left six days later. He returned again during the same month and then left on March 2. This time, he never returned.

The CBI further added that Mallya was interrogated on December 9, 10 and 11 and there was no reason to believe he could flee, said officials, shielding the diluted notice.