Bombay High Court quashes LOC issued by CBI against Rhea Chakraborty in Sushant Singh Rajput case

The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed the Look Out Circulars (LOCs) pending against actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and their father in relation to the ongoing probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death..The LOCs had been issued by the immigration authorities at the behest of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has been probing Rajput's death on a complaint made by his family.The division bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Manjusha Deshpande pronounced its verdict today on the petitions of Chakraborty, her brother and father..The Court noted that the agency had failed to spell out its reasons for issuance of LOCs. "Mere mentioning of an FIR or mentioning the gist of the FIR is not sufficient and can never be a reason for issuing an LOC. Having perused the four LOCs issued against the petitioners by the CBI, we find that in neither of the four LOCs, any satisfaction is recorded vis-a-vis any apprehension or any other reason, to issue an LOC. We find there is absolutely no reason disclosed for opening of the LOCs, except mentioning the registration of an FIR and giving the gist of the FIR," the Court observed in its 28 page order. .Rhea Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in September 2020 after Rajput's death.She was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in the drugs case a month later.The bail became final after the Centre decided not to press its challenge against the bail order before the Supreme Court..Chakraborty then approached the High Court raising grievance that the subsisting LOCs prevented her from fulfilling her work commitments abroad.She further argued that LOCs are issued only if an accused is evading arrest which was not the case in the present matter..Earlier on February 8, the Court had asked the CBI whether mere FIR was a sufficient basis to issue an LOC.The division bench noted that the case was pending since 2020 and no chargesheet had been filed till date and the petitioners had joined the investigation..CBI counsel contended that the petitioners could always approach the courts for suspension of LOCs when they wished to travel abroad.However, the Court did not entertain this argument and quashed the LOCs"The LOC cannot be kept pending indefinitely, in this case for more than 3½ years, though the petitioners have cooperated with the investigation, which fact has not been disputed. As noted earlier, there is already a condition imposed on the petitioners-Showik and Rhea, in an NDPS case, not to leave the country, without the permission of the Court. We allow all the aforesaid petitions and as such, quash and set-aside the LOCs issued as against the petitioners," the Court ordered..Advocates Ayaz Khan, Zahra Charania, Dr Abhinav Chandrachud, Prasanna Bhangale and Janay Jain appeared for petitioners. Advocates Kuldeep Patil, Shreeram Shirsat, Tanvi Mate, Tanveer Khan, Shekhar Mane and Karishma Rajesh appeared for CBI.[Read Order]