Mallya says he didn't flee from India

Business tycoon Vijay Mallya said on Friday that he had not fled India in the wake of legal issues and insisted that he had full faith in the country's judicial system.

"I am an international businessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder. Rubbish," the Rajya Sabha member tweeted.

Rubbishing reports that the United Breweries group chairman had fled and was in London, Mallya said that he had full faith in the Indian judicial system.

And the MP added that he "respects and will comply with the law of the land".

Mallya also said that he does not want a trial by the media. "Once a media witch hunt starts, it escalates into a raging fire where truth and facts are burnt to ashes.

"News reports that I must declare my assets. Does that mean the banks did not know my assets or look at my parliamentary disclosures?" he asked in a series of tweets.

A consortium of 17 banks led by the State Bank of India want Mallya arrested for not repaying about Rs.9,000 crore he had borrowed.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave Mallya two weeks to respond and fixed the next hearing on March 30.