The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday took possession of a Rs 100-crore farm house “controlled by” graft-tainted businessman Vijay Mallya in Maharashtra’s Alibaug, PTI reported. The ED, which has been investigating charges of money laundering against Mallya, had provisionally attached the farm house in September last year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, saying it was ‘controlled by’ the businessman, though it is not fully clear what this means.

The occupants of the 17-acre beachside property, Ms Mandwa Farms Private Limited, had appealed against the provisional attachment order before the appellate tribunal of the PMLA, but the plea was dismissed. They were then asked to move out, failing which, a team from the ED’s Mumbai office pasted a possession notice on the gate of the building on Thursday.

The farm house is valued at over Rs 100 crore.

Mallya, who owes 17 banks in India more than Rs 9,000 crore, has been in the United Kingdom since March 2016 and had earlier said he would not return to the country. He has been embroiled in a number of cases in India. The Ministry of External Affairs had submitted an extradition request for Mallya on February 9.

In November 2016, he was declared an absconder by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court. The same month, India had asked the UK to extradite the industrialist under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty for the loans he owes. On January 31, a special CBI court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him.