Vijay Mallya’s lawyer urges SC to relieve him from case

A lawyer representing fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to relieve him from representing Mallya, who is residing in the United Kingdom, as he is not receiving any communications from him.Advocate EC Agarwala told a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli that he has not been receiving any instruction from Mallya and thus, he should be discharged from the case.”I want to be discharged from this matter. I am not receiving any instructions…,” he said. The bench allowed the lawyer to follow the process for discharge from the case and asked him to inform the Court Registry about Mallya’s e-mail id and present residential address.In July, the apex court awarded four months in jail to Mallya who was found guilty of contempt of court in 2017 for withholding information from the court.It had also imposed a cost of Rs. 2,000 on Mallya while observing that he showed “no remorse” for his conduct and did not appear before it during the sentencing hearing.The top court had also directed Mallya to deposit USD 40 million with eight per cent interest within four weeks failing which, attachment proceedings will be initiated against his properties.It had said the adequate sentence must be imposed on him to “uphold the majesty of the law”.