NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), that is under fire after liquor baron Vijay Mallya managed to leave the country, said that the first lookout notice for Mallya's detention at the country's exit points was issued in error.
"The detention order issued against Vijay Mallya by CBI was an error by a lower level officer," the CBI said.
The investigation agency also said that Mallya had cooperated when being questioned on December 9 and 10 in New Delhi, and on December 12 in Mumbai.
The agency was yesterday accused of having eased the lookout notice against Mallya from seeking his detention while leaving the country to one that merely asked for information about his travel plans.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Mallya to appear before the agency next Friday (March 18) for questioning in the ongoing probe into a money-laundering case.
The development comes five days after the ED Mumbai registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act last Monday and a day after it summoned former top officials of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and IDBI bank which lent the airline Rs 900 crores.
However, it was not immediately clear when Mallya — who is currently abroad — will return to India and respond to the ED summons.
Earlier Friday, the ED quizzed the ex-KFA chief financial officer A. Raghunathan to shed light on the various financial transactions of the KFA and related matters.
Besides Raghunathan, the ED has also summoned former IDBI chairman-cum-managing director Yogesh Aggarwal and other senior executives of the airline and the bank for questioning on the loans made to KFA and other connected aspects.
Meanwhile, Mallya, in a series of tweets, said he is an international businessman, who travels abroad frequently, and added that he is not an absconder.
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