On April 20, the III Special Magistrate Court here had convicted Mallya and others, in connection with bouncing of two cheques of Rs 50 lakhs each under relevant sections of Negotiable Instruments Act and had adjourned for today the matter to pronounce the quantum of punishment, as Mallya, who left the country, was not present in the court.
The matter relates to cheques issued by Kingfisher Airlines Ltd to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here, towards charges for using the facilities at the airport for its Kingfisher Airlines flights.
"It is a known fact that he (Mallya) has fled the country and his passport has been revoked and he has also resigned from the post of Rajya Sabha MP. He has never marked his presence before the court which shows the conduct of the accused," Reddy submitted.
In view of this, there is no point in waiting for the accused (to be heard), he said and argued that this court need not wait for accused presence (for sentence) and sought for awarding maximum sentence of two years and also to impose fine under relevant sections of Negotiable Instruments Act.
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against the Kingfisher Airlines, its chairman Mallya and A Raghunathan, a senior official of the company for allegedly dishonouring two cheques of Rs 50 lakh each given to GMR.
On NBWs which were earlier issued against Mallya, Karnataka Police submitted a report before the court saying "NBWs dispatched at the address of accused at Bengaluru are returned un-executed."
"Warrants against accused are also pending," the judge said.
In a related development, the XVI Special Magistrate Court today issued fresh NBWs against Mallya and Raghunathan in connection with another complaint filed by GMR over dishonouring of cheque and posted the matter to June 7.
GHIAL had in October, 2012, withdrawn a case over "bounced" cheques against Mallya after the airline agreed to pay the outstanding amount due to the airport operator.
However, Kingfisher made only a part of the payment and defaulted on the rest, prompting the airport operator to approach the court.
The Ministry of External Affairs recently suspended Mallya's diplomatic passport for a period of four weeks on the advice of Enforcement Directorate which two days ago obtained an NBW against him from a Mumbai court in a money-laundering case.