PANAJI
Independent Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai called for a probe into the failure of the State administration to seize the villa of Kingfisher baron Vijay Mallya and accused the government of protecting him.
Speaking at the press conference along with other Opposition MLAs, Sardesai said, “Definitely the lapse has to be probed to find out how the ‘billionaire tenant’ has been given protection.”
“I heard that Vijay Mallya claimed to be a tenant of United Breweries which owned the villa. This needs to be probed,” Sardesai said.
It may be recalled that SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya had said that the Collector had failed to take possession of the villa.
"Even in respect of one particular villa, which we were trying to get possession of... in spite of the fact that the High Court had passed an order that it should be done in three months... the order was given to the Collector... he held eight hearings and then went on leave... so we couldn't get the order.
"Normally, Collectors are supposed to take possession and not hold hearings, but this person held eight hearings and we are still not in possession of it though we are trying very hard," Ms Bhattacharya had said in an interview to a national news channel.
Sources in the North Goa Collectorate said that on February 26, the Court granted the Collector another three months to take possession of the villa which is due to expire on May 26.
