The founder and former chairman of India’s grounded Jet Airways has himself been grounded.
Naresh Goyal and his wife were taken off a flight which had already left the gate at Mumbai Airport en route for Dubai.
It was prompted by a ‘lookout circular’ issued to prevent key executives at the airline leaving the country.
The Serious Fraud Investigation office and the Enforcement Directorate have reportedly began an investigation into Jet Airway’s financial dealings.
A ministry of home affairs confirmed the Goyals were on a watch list stopping them from fleeing the country.
Somehow, they had cleared immigration checks without any issues but the plane was ordered back to the gate.
The Goyals were seated in first class when they were pulled from the flight.
They were attempting to travel on Emirates to London via Dubai.
"Emirates is cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and we abide by the laws of the various countries we operate in," the airline said in a statement.
Authorities are keen not to repeat the mistakes involving Vijay Mallya.
Mallya is in London fighting extradition and was charged with money laundering linked to the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines six years ago.
Mallya was allowed to leave the country at the time.
The Goyals stepped down from the Jet Airways board in March.
The beleaguered airline is still no nearer finding an investor to allow it to resume services.
It has more than $1.2 billion debts and thousands of workers are still owed several months’ salaries.
