I will cheer for India in all Champions Trophy matches: Vijay Mallya

NEW DELHI: Thumbing his nose at the Indian government and the media, absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya spoke out on his presence at Sunday's India-Pakistan Champions Trophy match in Birmingham, UK and asserted that he plans on attending all future matches the team plays in the series.

"Wide sensational media coverage on my attendance at the India vs Pakistan match at Edgbaston. I intend to attend all games to cheer the India team," Mallya said in a tweet on Tuesday morning.




Mallya also used the platform to praise Virat Kohli, who was the captain of his once franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. "World class player World class Captain World class gentleman @imVkohli . Bravo Virat," his tweet read.

While there were many renowned persons in attendance at the highly-anticipated match, it was a photo of Mallya in the VIP stand at Edgbaston stadium that was widely reported by both TV and print media. Clad in his trademark white coat and sunglasses, the loan-defaulting businessman was also seen chatting with former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. The images, which were shared by Twitter users on the micro-blogging site, quickly went viral.

This isn't the first time Mallya has taken potshots at the media and the government agencies that have been hot on his heels for well over an year now.

Mallya, whose now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crore to various banks, had fled India for the UK in March 2016.

He was arrested by British authorities in April on India's extradition request in connection with a Rs 900 crore loan default case of IDBI Bank being probed by the CBI, only to be released on bail within hours by a London court. He'll appear before the Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 13 for the next hearing in the extradition case.

The CBI has two cases against him -- one related to the IDBI Bank case and the other related to a loan default of over Rs 6,000 crore filed on the basis of a complaint from a State Bank of India led consortium.