India probes bank loan to troubled Kingfisher airline

India’s top crime fighting body is investigating a $155 million loan by a state-run bank to debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines, a police official said Sunday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was conducting an initial probe into why the 9.5 billion rupee ($155 million) loan from the IDBI bank was approved given Kingfisher's levels of debt. ‘When the company was in the red why did the IDBI bank give the loan?’ CBI spokeswoman Kanchan Prasad said. Kingfisher, owned by India’s liquor baron, the flamboyant Vijay Mallya, owes nearly $1.5 billion to banks, airports, fuel suppliers, staff and others, according to AFP.