Accompanied by a woman

Vijay Mallya tracked to his country home near London?

NEW DELHI: Indian banks may be looking for Vijay Mallya to pay up Rs 9,000 crore, but the "wilful defaulter's" flight out of India was in the lap of luxury.Mallya took Jet Airways' Delhi-London flight 9W 122 last Wednesday (March 2) at 1:30pm, said a top government official.Accompanied by a woman, Mallya flew first class to London. And he did not travel light, packing a lot of stuff for his journey out of India."He checked in seven big pieces of luggage. The meet and assist service provided to all first class passengers was accorded to Mallya and his companion," said a source. Locals in Hertfordshire, north of London, where Mallya has a luxury residence, confirmed spotting him."There was no bar on Mallya travelling abroad on the day he left India. Banks moved the SC to ensure he remains in India only after he left India. The timing is curious and points to someone tipping off Mallya about the banks' impending move because of which he chose to leave India and he did not travel light," said a former confidante, now among hundreds of unpaid Kingfisher employees.Mallya took Boeing 777-300 extended range of Jet Airways to fly out of Delhi on March 2.The identity of Mallya's woman companion could not be ascertained by the time of going to press. "She was not one of the famous models or Bollywood biggies who used to be seen with Mallya in his good days. This was not exactly a young or well known person," said a source.Flying first class made sense for someone desperate to stay out of the limelight. It usually has low occupancy and the cabin crew is strict about not letting other flyers sneak in.