In a veiled attack at the government on the Vijay Mallya row, the Supreme Court yesterday remarked how a man who fled the country “after taking crores of rupees” was allowed to go scot free while the government made others suffer.
The Supreme Court’s observation came while hearing a plea filed by a woman whose husband has been in jail for a year for allegedly stealing five sarees.
Without naming Mallya, Chief Justice of India Justice JS Khehar said, “A person who has taken away crores of rupees is enjoying life. But here a person who took five sarees is in jail”.
Justice Khehar made the statement while hearing a petition filed by the wife of a Telangana man Ch Eliah, who was arrested in Hyderabad over a year ago, and has been in the prison for a year now, without facing trial.
He further questioned how the Telangana government could take a man into preventive custody for stealing sarees.
Justifying the arrest, the Telangana government said that a gang of saree thieves was operating in Hyderabad and many traders had complained about it.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled on Wednesday.
Mallya moved to UK when a group of banks were attempting to recover around Rs 9,000 crore in unpaid loans to his collapsed Kingfisher Airlines.
Since then, several non-bailable warrants have been issued against him on charges of conspiracy and fraud. Meanwhile, the Indian government has been constantly attempting for his extradition.
Mallya, on the other hand, has said that he is “safe in UK” and India has no grounds to extradite him.
