AKIPRESS.COM - Tycoon Vijay Mallya, under pressure from banks to repay more than $1 billion owed by his collapsed airline, on Friday refuted claims he had fled India as politicians traded recriminations over how he was able to fly to Britain unhindered.

The March 2 departure of Mallya has sparked uproar in parliament and a firestorm in domestic media that pore over the lifestyle one of India's brashest entrepreneurs. Questions centre on how Mallya was allowed to leave even after creditors of his failed Kingfisher Airlines had appealed to the Supreme Court to ensure he stayed in the country, reports Reuters.

"I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder," 60-year-old Mallya said in a series of posts on Twitter on Friday, adding he will comply with domestic laws.

The self-styled "King of Good Times", who built his business around Kingfisher beer and co-owns a Formula 1 racing team, explained to his 5 million followers that he travels to and from India frequently, saying he was the target of "a raging fire" media witch hunt. 

Mallya, also a member of parliament's upper house who was last seen in the chamber on March 1, didn't disclose his current location in the social media posts. Two people familiar with his travel arrangements told Reuters Mallya flew first class to London on Jet Airways Flight 9W-122 the next day.

Indian TV reporters said they had traced Mallya to the Hertfordshire village of Tewin, north of London, where he is known to locals. The businessman's luxury home, called "Ladywalk", cost 11.5 million pounds ($16.4 million) when bought in July 2015, property records show.

Security officials told Reuters that Mallya, a fixture in India's society press pages who sports a goatee, an ear stud and a ponytail, was the subject of a "lookout notice" - an official circular that triggers an alert if the target seeks to leave India but does not provide a legal basis to prevent departure.

No formal legal warrant was issued against him, even as creditors sought to step up efforts to recover the $1.4 billion owed by Kingfisher Airlines, which stopped flying in October 2012.

"What can we do? It was the banks' responsibility to file a criminal case against him," said a senior home ministry official who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to discuss the case publicly. "We had no legal basis to stop him."