Mallya’s passport suspended

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines has defaulted on loans of over Rs 9,400 crores, and has been defying Enforcement Directorate summons, today suffered a major blow when his passport was suspended by the government which has threatened to revoke it.

The diplomatic passport of the flamboyant 60-year-old industrialist, who has been in Britain for over a month and has refused to appear before the ED, was suspended by the External Affairs Ministry on the recommendation of the agency.

“On the advice of the Enforcement Directorate, the Passport lssuing Authority in the MEA has today suspend the validity of Vijay Mallya s diplomatic passport with immediate effect for a period of 4 weeks, under Section 10 A of the Passports Act, 1967.

“Mallya has been asked to respond within one week as to why his passport should not be impounded or revoked under section 10(3)(c) of the Passports Act, 1967. If he fails to respond within the stipulated time, it will be assumed that he has no response to offer and the MEA will go ahead with the revocation,” MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.