'Detention order issued against Vijay Mallya was a mistake': CBI
The agency was accused of changing the nature of lookout notice against Mallya within one month of issuance from seeking his detention.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who is already facing heat over allowing liquor baron Vijay Mallya to flee, on Friday said that detention order issued against the latter was a mistake.
"The detention order issued against Vijay Mallya by CBI was an error by a lower level officer," said CBI.
The investigation agency also informed that Mallya had joined questioning on December 9, 2015 and 10 in New Delhi and on December 12 in Mumbai.
The agency was accused of changing the nature of lookout notice against Mallya within one month of issuance from seeking his detention while leaving the country to that merely providing information about his travel plans.
Mallya today rubbished claims that he had absconded from the country.
In a series of tweets, the liquor baron said he is an international businessman, who travels from India frequently, and added that he is not an absconder.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, yesterday accused the NDA Government of helping Mallya escape India.
The Supreme Court had on Wednesday brushed aside a plea by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to direct Mallya to appear personally before the court to force him to come back to India.
The case will be next heard on March 30.
The SBI, which leads a consortium of 17 lenders to King Fisher Airlines, declared Mallya wilful defaulter last month. Besides the SBI, United Bank of India (UBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have also declared Mallya as wilful defaulter.