Businessman Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher House at Vile Parle in Mumbai was finally sold to Hyderabad based Saturn Realtors for ₹52.25 crore in the ninth attempt by the Debt Recovery Tribunal. Kingfisher House was once the headquarters of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines owned by Mallya, who is accused of fraud and money laundering allegedly amounting to around ₹9,000 crore. Saturn Realtors paid ₹2.612 crore as stamp duty to Maharashtra government for this deal. The deal was registered on July 31 last month. This 2401.70 square metres property outside the Mumbai airport has been up for grabs since 2016.
The Debt Recovery Tribunal, Bengaluru sold this house-- after failing in the previous eight attempts-- at a fraction of the initial reserve price of ₹135 crore. Pankaj Kapoor, managing director, Liases Foras, a real estate research firm attributed the reduced rates to its location and market condition. “There is not much development potential in this plot due to height restrictions as it is close to the airport. In addition, market conditions are bad...,”said Kapoor. Kingfisher Airlines was grounded on October 20, 2012, after it plunged into a financial crisis. Mallya is accused of fraud and money laundering involving Kingfisher Airlines and was declared a fugitive economic offender for defaulting on loans and for allegedly defrauding banks. Mallya fled to the United Kingdom and has been fighting on multiple fronts to avoid extradition to India. He has been on bail in the UK on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April 2019.