NEW DELHI: Vijay Mallya said he is legally barred from leaving the UK, claiming his innocence on Wednesday, in a series of posts on X.The allegedly fugitive businessman has claimed that the Indian Government has been grossly unjust to him.“For all who say I am a bhagoda refusing to come to India, please be aware that I have been a permanent resident of the United Kingdom since 1992 and am currently legally prohibited from leaving this country. All this started with poster-boy actions by the Government of India who have been grossly unjust in my case,” Mallya said in his post.In October 2025, Mallya was among the list of 15 high-profile names that were declared Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEOs) under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA). He shares the list with Nirav Modi.In a separate post on Tuesday, Mallya referred to an alleged Enforcement Directorate affidavit purportedly filed before the Bombay High Court, claiming it showed recovery of Rs 14,131.60 crore from him in 2021.“Para 7 is the decreed debt and Para 17 shows recovered Rs 14,131.60 crore in 2021!! 5 years on I am still referred to as a fraud who cheated the Banks,” he wrote.
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He also shared what he described as an account statement of recoveries, questioning why he continued to be labelled a fraudster and asking when he might receive a refund. Mallya further claimed that the ED had released over Rs 350 crore from his attached funds to pay Kingfisher Airlines employees, asserting he had been unable to make those payments himself because his assets had been frozen.This is not the first time Mallya has made such claims. In August, he wrote on X that banks and the government had “admitted” to recovering Rs 14,100 crore from him against a judgment debt of Rs 6,203 crore, contrasting this with settlements reached by other borrowers “at a fraction” of what they owed.The Centre, for its part, reiterated in December last year that it remained committed to bringing economic offenders back to face trial, though the ministry of external affairs acknowledged that “several layers of legalities” were involved in such cases.Mallya’s claims come against the backdrop of an ongoing legal battle, where he challenged the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Act and the proceedings under which he was declared a fugitive.
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