Cheque-bounce case: Court Convicts Mallya

A local court yesterday convicted industrialist Vijay Mallya in a cheque-bouncing case filed against him by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.

The court, however, did not pronounce the quantum of punishment as the Rajya Sabha MP was not present in the court, Mallya's lawyer H Sudhakar Rao said.

 The court is expected to pronounce his punishment on 5 May.

"Because Vijay Mallya was not here, the sentence has not been pronounced...only conviction has been recorded. Since no accused have appeared before the court, only conviction has been recorded," Rao added.

The court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against the Kingfisher Airlines chairman Mallya, the airlines, and other senior officials of the company for allegedly dishonouring a cheque of Rs 50 lakhs given to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

 The GHIAL had in October 2012, withdrawn a case of bounced cheques against Mallya after the airline had agreed to pay the outstanding amount due to the airport operator.

GHIAL approached the court again when Kingfisher could only make a part payment and defaulted on the rest.

Recently, the Ministry of External Affairs suspended Mallya's diplomatic passport for a period of 4 weeks on the advice of Enforcement Directorate.

Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines has defaulted on repayment of over Rs 9,000 crore of bank loan.