In a shocking development, Naresh Goyal and his wife, Anita, were taken into custody at Mumbai Airport from a Saturday flight that was scheduled to arrive in London via Dubai.
Goyal founded and chaired Jet Airways for 26 years and quit recently after the airline was in deep financial problems, even to the point of being unable to pay staff salaries.
The Goyals were made to disembark after the plane had left the tarmac, with authorities citing it as an immigration issue.
Some staff unions had earlier approached the authorities to impound the passport of Naresh, as Jet Airways had failed to pay staff salaries.
Efforts are ongoing to revive Jet Airways and it is possible that the trip of the former chairman was in that connection, for talks with other airlines, but there is no clarity on this.
According to sources, a look-out-circular was issued against Naresh Goyal, his family members, as well as other individuals to prevent them from leaving the country.
possible to reach millions worldwide
Google News, Bing News, Yahoo News, 200+ publications
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are conducting inquiries about Jet Airways cases.
Earlier, Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher Airlines, had left the country, which led to much criticism, as he is involved in many financial issues.
What is intriguing is that Naresh was first allowed to board the flight, and then later was deplaned after the order was executed.
It remains to be seen how this drastic immigration action will unfold.
