The Chhabrias, through group firm Airdale Investment Trading, have sought the appointment of a CLB administrator at Herbertsons. The petition filed by Mallya on mismanagement at the Chhabrias-controlled BDA is pending before CLB.

A petition filed by the Chhabrias on Tuesday charged Herbertsons chairman Vijay Mallya of siphoning out Rs 5 crore per month from the company through close associates, the Balaji group. It has also accused him of stripping assets of the liquor company "to his personal gain and/or to the benefit of other companies controlled by him and treating the company as his personal preserve."

Vijay Mallya and Kishore Chhabria have been fighting a long-drawn battle for control of Herberstons and the case is pending in the Mumbai high court.

The petition filed by the Chhabrias has charged Mallya of using various companies under the control of Balaji group as conduits "to enhance his personal wealth and support his extravagant style." Herberstons, the petition alleges, has entered into tie-ups with Balaji group-controlled distilleries to source IMFL requirements for Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh so as to benefit Mallya by inflating ex-distillery price and cost of material.

"All these distilleries are part and controlled by the Balaji group and these tie-ups inflated ex-distillery price by inflating cost and benefiting Vijay Mallya" the petition said.

The petition goes on to add that the Income Tax department had detected a cost-inflation exercise at Balaji Distilleries through bogus promotion expenses and by purchasing bottles/cartons at rates almost 200 per cent higher than market prices.

The petition alleges that Mallya arranged to siphon off funds under the guise of payment to the UB group on account of purported marketing services and production co-ordination at the rate of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh per month respectively. "Since December 1993, by these methods a total sum of Rs. 22.5 crore have been siphoned out from Herberstons", the petition alleged.

Besides, the Chhabrias have alleged that the decision to sell off Herbertsons' "state-of-the-art" brewery division UB Ltd was detrimental to the interests of Herbertson's. Mallya, says the petition, arranged to hive off the division from Herbertsons to prevent the company from diversifying into beer business.