The Supreme Court sentenced Vijay Mallya, declared a fugitive in a 2017 contempt of court case, to four months in prison on July 11. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000, payable within four weeks.

Mallya paid her family $40 million in violation of a court order. For this, he was found guilty of contempt of court. The Supreme Court noted that despite being held in contempt of court, Mallya has never shown remorse or apology.
In a significant move, the Supreme Court has directed the deal to be reversed for $40 million and required to deposit the funds at 8% interest over four weeks.

In March, the Supreme Court reserved its order on the number of penalties in Mallya’s contempt of court case.
On a related note, Mallya did not comment on the amount of the Supreme Court penalty, despite giving him the opportunity.

The court had earlier postponed the case to give Mallya time to present his case to the court in person or through a lawyer. However, Mallya neither appeared in court nor was instructed by a lawyer.

So, the Supreme Court went ahead with the case and upheld its ruling after a lengthy amicus curiae hearing. The Supreme Court has appointed senior defence lawyer Jaideep Gupta to assist in the case as amicus curiae, which means friend of the court.

Mallya was given another opportunity to present his case through a written submission.

Today’s verdict relates to a 2017 Supreme Court decision in which Vijay Mallya was held in contempt of court for willfully violating the court order. The Supreme Court affirmed the contempt of court conviction while denying Mallya’s request to review the ruling.

Mallya was instructed to appear in court for a hearing on the amount of the fine, but he was still unable to attend due to the pending extradition proceedings against him in the UK at the time.

Following the extradition process, part of the process, the nature of which is still unknown to Indian authorities, is still ongoing in the UK.