Vijay Mallya 'on the run' for Indian authorities

Doubts Vijay Mallya might have to miss next weekend's season opener in Australia appear over, but the Force India chief's troubles in India are far from over. As over a dozen aggrieved banks line up to recover debts following the collapse of the former billionaire's airline Kingfisher, they called for the seizure of his passport.

But as the application was heard in an Indian court on Wednesday, it became clear that Mallya had left India over a week ago. "Where is Vijay Mallya?" read a headline at Forbes, concluding that he is probably in England, where his F1 team is based.

Before leaving, Mallya had reacted angrily to suggestions he is an "absconder", but it is not clear when he will be returning to his native country. "Let him appear personally and deposit his passport," Mukul Rohatgi, the Indian attorney general, is quoted as saying by India's Telegraph newspaper. A report in India's Economic Times added: "The government will take all steps, including seeking extradition if required, to bring Mallya back".

A correspondent for the Times of India, who was staking out one of Mallya's residences in England, described the flamboyant 60-year-old as being "on the run". And an official for the elite Indian police agency CBI was quoted by the Hindustan Times: "CBI will seek the assistance of Interpol to get Mallya detained or arrested by local authorities of wherever he might be, to be brought back to India via deportation for joining the due process of law." (GMM)