VIJAY MALLYA – India's runaway corporate honcho

In early March, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, facing probe amid continuing efforts by banks to recover dues totalling over Rs 9,000 crore of unpaid loans and interest from him, managed to leave the country in spite of a look-out notice against him by CBI.

Several summons were later sent to Mallya to appear before investigators of the ED, however he continued to seek extension of time.

Mallya later in March submitted Rs 4,000 crore repayment plan to Supreme court, seeking time till September 2016 to repay the amount.

In mid-April, Mallya's diplomatic passport was suspended by the government, while India had also asked the UK to deport Mallya, citing the revocation of his passport and a non-bailable warrant against him. However, a reply came nearly a fortnight in which the UK government made it very clear the businesman could not be deported.

Mallya created a lot of stir in India when he gave an interviwe to Financial Times soon after his passport was revoked. "I definitely would like to return to India. Right now, things are flying at me fast and furious. My passport has been revoked. I don't know what the government is going to do next," he had said.

Mallya was later forced to give up control over United Spirits, part of his UB Group, to Diageo, which now owns about 55 percent of the company. He stepped down from the board in February, receiving a $75 million pay off.

However, the Debt Recovery Tribunal had directed Diageo Plc not to disburse USD 40 million of the USD 75 million deal to him. The DRT, allowing an SBI plea, restrained Diageo from disbursing the money.The SBI had sought the DRT`s intervention in seeking the lenders` first right on the USD 75-million payout from Diageo to Mallya as part of the deal earlier in February.

In May, Mallya resigned from Rajya Sabha where he was an Independent MP. In an apparent attempt to pre-empt his expulsion, Mallya had written to Chairman Hamid Ansari seeking to resign from the house because he did not want his "name and reputation to be further dragged in mud".

However, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari had turned down his resignation on procedural grounds while the Ethics Committee also found loopholes in his defence and decided to recommend his expulsion after having examined his reply.

Later, in September the ED issued its second attachment order for assets worth Rs 6,630 crore against Mallya as it seized his farmhouse, flats and FDs, thereby making the total attachment up to Rs 8,041 crore.

The 17-lender consortium led by State Bank of India in October conducted an e-auction of Mallya's plush Kingfisher Villa in Goa, though it failed to attract a single bidder. The Villa is among many movable and immovable properties under lenders' possession, which they are trying to auction as a part to recover Rs 9,000 crore from Mallya.

The Karnataka High Court in November ordered winding up of his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines Limited for non-payment of dues to a UK-based firm.

CBI has again initiated an extradition request to bring back Mallya from the United Kingdom through a Special Court in Mumbai in November.