The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday sought to clear the controversy over its decision to modify the request made through a lookout circular issued against businessman Vijay Mallya from detention to only seeking intimation on his travel abroad, stating that it was an inadvertent error by some officer at the “local level”.
According to a CBI spokesperson, the agency had suo motu registered a criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption case against Mr. Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and others on July 29, 2015.
The agency, however, conducted searches on October 10 last year when Mr. Mallya was abroad. “Two days later, the CBI sent a letter to the Bureau of Immigration stating that the accused was wanted for questioning. A form seeking issuance of the lookout circular was also sent. But, inadvertently, an official at the Mumbai office ticked the option for detention of Mr. Mallya and its intimation to the CBI,” said the spokesperson. “The circular for detention can be issued only when a non-bailable warrant is pending,” an official said.
Ex-CFO questionedMeanwhile, in a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Enforcement Directorate officials questioned A. Raghunathan, former CFO of Kingfisher Airlines, and Ravi Nedungadi, former CFO of United Breweries, in Mumbai.
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