Vijay Mallya no longer has ‘unlucky’ Tipu sword

LONDON: The personal sword of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, has vanished and no one knows where it’s gone. No one except Vijay Mallya, perhaps. The embattled liquor tycoon gave away the rare sword in 2016 because his family told him it was bringing him “bad luck”, the London high court heard on Tuesday from the lawyer representing 13 Indian banks who Mallya owes about Rs 9,000 crore. The sword is worth £188,000 (about Rs 1.8 crore today).

The banks are attempting to convince the court that the freeze order on Mallya’s global assets should not be discharged. The lawyer cited the sword as one example of how the banks are at risk of Mallya “dissipating his assets”.

In Bengaluru, a former colleague claimed Mallya tried to give the sword to a reputed museum for safekeeping but the museum refused.


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However, the museum refused to take it as it was not clear as to how it could be preserved,” the ex-colleague said, adding that it was unclear what Mallya did with the sword after that.


Meanwhile, a seventh-generation descendant of Tipu, Sahebzada Mansoor Ali Tipu, said the family has been persistently trying to get in touch with Mallya and even went to the extent of trying to purchase it from Mallya,but to no avail. “As far as our understanding goes, the sword is nowhere to be seen. Neither the small museum of Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatna nor any of the family members have it. Mallya never disclosed the location of the sword to anyone,” he said. Mansoor Ali said the family was ready to initiate legal action to bring it back to the country due to its historical and archaeological importance.

Mallya had picked up the sword for Rs 1.5 crore at a private auction in 2004 and brought it to be brandished in the 2004 assembly polls when he was Janata Party president. Mallya had lost all the seats.

Mallya’s lawyer, however, set the value of the sword against the millions owed to the banks to argue that it was insufficient to justify the allegation that Mallya would hide or dispose of his assets.

Nigel Tozzi QC, representing the 13 Indian banks pursuing Mallya for defaulting on loans worth Rs 6,203 crore plus interest, also told the court that the Mallya was not able to obtain credit to buy a £500,000 (about Rs 4.7 crore) Ferrari “because of negative media coverage about him” so he had to buy it on hire purchase.

Mallya had declared the sword he bought for £188,400 (about Rs 1.8 crore) as part of his Indian assets when he declared them to the Supreme Court of India in April 2016, Tozzi told the court. “We are now told the regalia Sultan sword has been disposed of and Mallya has no right to reclaim it,” Tozzi said. He added that in Mallya’s affidavit, he had written, “I gave it away in 2016 as my family said it was bringing me bad luck.”