Mallya's 17-acre farmhouse in Alibaug attached by ED
As per the records, the sprawling mansion's registry value was around Rs 25 crore.
Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) took possession of industrialist Vijay Mallya’s sprawling 17-acre lavish farmhouse on Thursday. The officials said that this was the first of the attached properties of Mallya that was taken into possession by the agency.
The beach-facing farmhouse is located two minutes away from Mandwa jetty in the Kolegaon village in Alibaug and has a self-contained swimming pool inside, officials said.
The ED confirmed the development via a tweet that said, “ED takes over possession of Mandwa Farms controlled by Vijay Mallya. This 17 acres farm has market value of Rs 100 cr.”
Officials said that the property was registered in the name of M/s Mandwa Farms Pvt Ltd that was controlled by Mallya. As per the records, the sprawling mansion’s registry value was around Rs 25 crore.
The ED had issued an eviction notice to M/s Mandwa Farms Pvt Ltd on April 25 for getting the property vacated. The property was attached by the ED on September 3, 2016. Later the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Adjudicating Authority in New Delhi confirmed the provisional attachment order, which was issued on February 22, 2017, officials said.
The controllers of the property, M/s Mandwa Farms Pvt Ltd, however, decided to appeal against the order and moved to the appellate tribunal of PMLA seeking a stay against the eviction notice. The appeal was however dismissed on Tuesday.
“With their appeal struck down, the possession of the property had to be let off and accordingly the property was taken into possession peacefully, with its present market value being over Rs 100 crore,” added the ED officer.
The latest attachments in the case took place in September 2016, which included a Chennai-based factory, UB City mall in Bangalore and coffee plantations in Coorg along with a plush apartment located in the Fort area in south Mumbai.
Earlier, the ED had attached Mallya’s shareholding in his company along with a bungalow in Bangalore and the Mandwa farmhouse. The list also included fix deposits in several banks that are in Mallya’s name.