Mumbai/Delhi: In a scene right out of a Hollywood action movie, Emirates flight EK-507 carrying Jet Airways' founder Naresh Goyal and wife Anita was forced by Mumbai immigration to return to the bay, where they were offloaded, after it had already started taxiing.
Goyal’s ‘grounding’ comes weeks after his airline, the largest in India for a long time, was grounded when it ran out of financial fuel. Government sources said a lookout circular (LOC) had been issued by the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO), under the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), as per a November 2018 home ministry notification giving powers to public sector banks to prevent wilful defaulters and fraudsters from fleeing the country.
The Boeing 777 aircraft, with the Goyals among 371 people on board, was about to depart for Dubai at 4.14 pm, said an air traffic control official. “It began taxiing at 4.19 pm, but then, we received a call from immigration authorities asking us to call the aircraft back. They said there was an immigration issue.’’ The aircraft docked into parking bay V12 at 4.35 pm.
The passengers would have barely settled in, when the Goyals seated in the second row of the Emirates first class cabin were asked to disembark. Had the aircraft not been called back, the Goyals would have landed in Dubai in three hours where a limousine, which is part of the Emirates first class service, was booked to ferry them from the airport to their penthouse residence in Dubai Marina.
"Their bags were checked-in only up to Dubai," said an airport source. However, another official said that they were travelling to London. If so, they had probably planned to break their journey in Dubai.
On March 2, 2016, Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines reportedly owed banks Rs 9,000 crore, left the country for London on a Jet flight — triggering a political firestorm and setting in motion protracted extradition proceedings in the UK.
As for the 25-year old Jet, which "temporarily" suspended flight operations on April 17, it owes over Rs 7,000 crore to nine Indian banks led by State Bank of India which has a Rs 1,600-crore exposure. Officials in the government said the SFIO and the Enforcement Directorate had launched a probe against Jet.
Earlier in the day, no objection was raised when the Goyals reached the airport counter to clear immigration. "Their passports were stamped and permission was granted to leave the country," said an airport source.
The Emirates aircraft pushed back a second time for departure at 5.04 pm, this time with 368 people on board after the Goyals and another passenger, who had a medical problem, had disembarked and their check-in bags offloaded. However, the Goyals left the airport premises in a couple of hours.
An Emirates spokesperson said: "Emirates is co-operating fully with the relevant authorities and we abide by the laws of the various countries we operate in." Jet Airways declined to comment.
26/05/19 Times of India
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Goyal’s ‘grounding’ comes weeks after his airline, the largest in India for a long time, was grounded when it ran out of financial fuel. Government sources said a lookout circular (LOC) had been issued by the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO), under the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), as per a November 2018 home ministry notification giving powers to public sector banks to prevent wilful defaulters and fraudsters from fleeing the country.
The Boeing 777 aircraft, with the Goyals among 371 people on board, was about to depart for Dubai at 4.14 pm, said an air traffic control official. “It began taxiing at 4.19 pm, but then, we received a call from immigration authorities asking us to call the aircraft back. They said there was an immigration issue.’’ The aircraft docked into parking bay V12 at 4.35 pm.
The passengers would have barely settled in, when the Goyals seated in the second row of the Emirates first class cabin were asked to disembark. Had the aircraft not been called back, the Goyals would have landed in Dubai in three hours where a limousine, which is part of the Emirates first class service, was booked to ferry them from the airport to their penthouse residence in Dubai Marina.
"Their bags were checked-in only up to Dubai," said an airport source. However, another official said that they were travelling to London. If so, they had probably planned to break their journey in Dubai.
On March 2, 2016, Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines reportedly owed banks Rs 9,000 crore, left the country for London on a Jet flight — triggering a political firestorm and setting in motion protracted extradition proceedings in the UK.
As for the 25-year old Jet, which "temporarily" suspended flight operations on April 17, it owes over Rs 7,000 crore to nine Indian banks led by State Bank of India which has a Rs 1,600-crore exposure. Officials in the government said the SFIO and the Enforcement Directorate had launched a probe against Jet.
Earlier in the day, no objection was raised when the Goyals reached the airport counter to clear immigration. "Their passports were stamped and permission was granted to leave the country," said an airport source.
The Emirates aircraft pushed back a second time for departure at 5.04 pm, this time with 368 people on board after the Goyals and another passenger, who had a medical problem, had disembarked and their check-in bags offloaded. However, the Goyals left the airport premises in a couple of hours.
An Emirates spokesperson said: "Emirates is co-operating fully with the relevant authorities and we abide by the laws of the various countries we operate in." Jet Airways declined to comment.
26/05/19 Times of India
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