Loans to Vijay Mallya granted during UPA rule, Manmohan Singh to blame, alleges BJP

“Was the sinking ship (Congress) helping out the sinking Airlines?” Sambit Patra said.

Quoting from letters ‘that expose undue favour given by UPA’ to Mallya, he also alleged that Manmohan Singh had granted the Kingfisher airlines permission to operate in view of making air transport better. He said Congress constantly helped Mallya even when he was not going to give any returns, continuously praising the airlines for its work.

Read | Agencies vet Vijay Mallya emails for proof of ‘undue favours’

Vijay Mallya had taken the loans to help his collapsing airlines Kingfisher. He left the country in March 2016, leaving at least 17 banks waiting to collect a total of Rs 9000 crore from him. The IT department and the CBI have pinned charges of money laundering on the liquor baron.

Investigative agencies are trawling through 1.5 lakh emails of Vijay Mallya to gather possible evidence of any “undue favours” that may have been given to his firm, said two people familiar with the investigation. These emails, which Mallya sent to senior company officials, political leaders and bankers, may form a part of the CBI’s chargesheet — which is expected in the next few months — on the Rs 6,900 crore loan default by Kingfisher Airlines. Most of the loans were granted to Kingfisher Airlines between 2006 and 2009, when Vijay Mallya was a Member of Parliament.