--- layout: default title: "Vijay Mallya Cries Foul After His Twitter and Email Accounts Are Hacked" description: "A Business Standard report by Alnoor Peermohamed on the Legion hacking group's compromise of liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Twitter and email accounts, featuring Sunil Abraham's analysis on hacktivism following Julian Assange's transparency principle, public support for vigilante justice targeting the fugitive businessman, and distinctions between gossip-driven breaches versus accountability-enhancing disclosures." categories: [Media mentions] date: 2016-12-10 authors: ["Alnoor Peermohamed"] source: "Business Standard" permalink: /media/vijay-mallya-hack-legion-business-standard/ created: 2026-01-11 --- **Vijay Mallya Cries Foul After His Twitter and Email Accounts Are Hacked** is a *Business Standard* report published on 10 December 2016 by Alnoor Peermohamed. The article covers the hacking of Vijay Mallya's Twitter and email accounts by the vigilante group Legion, which claimed access to over a gigabyte of data on offshore investments whilst threatening further disclosures to bring the fugitive businessman to justice, featuring Sunil Abraham’s commentary cautioning that such hacks must lead to public interest outcomes rather than mere gossip. ## Contents 1. [Article Details](#article-details) 2. [Full Text](#full-text) 3. [Context and Background](#context-and-background) 4. [External Link](#external-link) ## Article Details
📰 Published in:
Business Standard
📅 Date:
10 December 2016
👤 Author:
Alnoor Peermohamed
📄 Type:
News Report
📰 Article Link:
Read Online
## Full Text

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Friday cried foul over his Twitter account being hacked by a group calling itself 'Legion'. The group is believed to be the same as the one behind the hack of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's Twitter and e-mail servers last week.

Several tweets alleging that Mallya's e-mail had been compromised and documents related to his offshore investments and bank accounts had been stolen were made from his official Twitter account in early on Friday.

"Outfit called Legion has hacked my e-mail accounts and are blackmailing me!! What a joke," Mallya tweeted after seemingly taking back control of his account.

The attackers said they were able to access over a gigabyte of data from Mallya's e-mail and shared a link for the public to gain access to it. They also tweeted the rest of the information on Mallya would be made public in the coming weeks, targeted at bringing him to justice for committing fraud.

The Twitteratti (the general public on the social networking platform), including several of Mallya's 5.51 million followers, emerged in support of the hackers, who they proclaimed were working in the interest of the Indian people. Mallya has defaulted Rs 7,200 crores in loans and is being investigated for it.

"The e-mail hack is interesting because it's the same global pattern. People are following Julian Assange's advice — transparency should be directly proportional to power. What one really means is, public interest should be preserved," says Sunil Abraham, executive director at Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society.

While a lot of hacks continue to be carried out for monetary gain through extortion, several Internet vigilante groups have cropped up over the past decade, the most famous being WikiLeaks and more recently Anonymous. As India's politicians, businessmen and the general public increasingly use technology and the Internet, they too are becoming targets for such hackers.

"If Mallya's email account is hacked and all we get out of it is gossip, then it's of no use. But if we as a nation ensure that the law is followed, or laws are improved, or corporate governance is evolved, all of that is positive impact of such an event. So hacktivists have to be very responsible when they do this, otherwise they spoil the name of whistleblowers and so on," added Abraham.

Mallya is currently wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies and has a non-bailable warrant issued against his name by the court. He has currently exiled himself in the UK and refuses to travel to the country unless offered amnesty. While often denying any wrongdoing, the general public perception among Indians is that the billionaire playboy Mallya portrayed himself to be is guilty.

{% include back-to-top.html %} ## Context and Background This report appeared during a wave of high-profile hacks by the Legion collective targeting Indian political and business figures perceived as corrupt or unaccountable. The previous week's compromise of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's Twitter and email accounts had established Legion's modus operandi: accessing private communications, selectively releasing embarrassing or incriminating information, and positioning breaches as public interest vigilantism. Mallya represented an especially sympathetic target given widespread public anger over his March 2016 departure to the UK whilst owing Rs 7,200 crore to a consortium of Indian banks through his collapsed Kingfisher Airlines. Sunil Abraham's reference to Julian Assange's principle that "transparency should be directly proportional to power" articulated the ethical framework hacktivists claimed justified unauthorized access to private communications. This principle—originating from WikiLeaks' philosophy—argued that powerful individuals and institutions warranted reduced privacy protections because their decisions affected public welfare, whilst ordinary citizens deserved maximal privacy. Applied to Mallya, this logic suggested his financial dealings merited scrutiny given banks' use of public deposits for loans he defaulted on, socializing losses whilst he maintained a lavish lifestyle abroad. The distinction Sunil Abraham drew between gossip-driven breaches and accountability-enhancing disclosures highlighted tensions within hacktivism between vigilante justice rhetoric and actual systemic impact. If Legion's data dump merely revealed salacious personal details without documenting specific fraud mechanisms, hidden assets subject to recovery, or regulatory failures enabling Mallya's escape, the breach would amount to privacy violation without commensurate public benefit. Conversely, if leaked communications showed asset concealment, loan diversion, or coordination with officials blocking investigations, the disclosure could strengthen law enforcement cases or prompt legislative reforms. Sunil Abraham's concern about "spoiling the name of whistleblowers" referenced important distinctions between hacktivism and protected whistleblowing. Whistleblowers typically work within or have legitimate access to organizations, disclose specific wrongdoing through proper channels or journalists, and accept personal consequences whilst claiming legal protections. Hacktivists breach security systems without authorization, selectively release information based on their own judgment, and remain anonymous to evade prosecution. Conflating these categories could undermine legal protections for actual whistleblowers whilst legitimizing vigilante hacking. The public support for Legion's actions targeting Mallya demonstrated populist frustration with perceived impunity for powerful wrongdoers. Mallya's March 2016 departure on his private jet to the UK just before banks moved to seize his passport, followed by his defiant statements from London whilst Indian courts issued non-bailable warrants, created a narrative of justice thwarted by wealth and connections. When formal legal mechanisms appeared ineffective—extradition proceedings dragged on for years, loan recovery efforts stalled, and Mallya maintained public visibility—some citizens welcomed extra-legal accountability mechanisms regardless of their legitimacy concerns. ## External Link - [Read on Business Standard](https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/vijay-mallya-cries-foul-after-his-twitter-and-e-mail-hack-116120900752_1.html)