CBI Court directs Aakar Patel not to leave country without its permission; stays direction to CBI Director to tender apology

A Special CBI court on Friday ordered that former Amnesty International India chair Aakar Patel cannot leave India without its permission..Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann also stayed Thursday's order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Pawan Kumar to the extent that it asked the CBI Director to send a written apology to Patel."It is deemed just and proper to stay operation of the impugned order dated 07.04.2022 vis-a-vis direction to the Director, CBI to give written apology. Respondent Aakar Patel is directed not to leave the country without permission of this Court, till the next date of hearing," the special court ordered..The order was passed on a revision application filed by the CBI against an order passed by the ACMM, who had set aside a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued by CBI against Patel. The Court on Thursday also urged the CBI Director to send a written apology to Patel with the aim of restoring public confidence in the central agency.The magistrate order was passed in Patel's plea filed after he was stopped from boarding a flight to the United States (US) on Wednesday. He was told that an LOC had been issued against him by the CBI. This was in relation to a case regarding evasion of Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRA Rules) through "commercial" methods after Amnesty UK remitted ₹10 crore and subsequently ₹26 crore to its India entities without the approval of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).After the magistrate's order, Patel had booked tickets to US, but was once again stopped at Bengaluru Airport on Thursday night by immigration authorities, since CBI had not withdrawn the LOC. The agency, meanwhile, filed the present revision application..CBI counsel Nikhil Goel told the special court today that the trial court order was incorrect."Trial court seems to suggest no arrest so no question of arrest. That's reason number 1. Why this reason is incorrect – chargesheet was filed December 31 2021 and LOC was issued same day. Chargesheet is under FCRA provision. Just because to say I have not arrested somebody and that no LOC can be issued is against the basic purpose of issuing LOC," Goel submitted.It would be incorrect to say that the agency did it deliberately because there are provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to call someone for investigation, the CBI counsel added.Goel also said that the trial court made various unwarranted observations in its order."Court can say LOC is good or LOC is bad and stop there," Goel said, referring to the observations of the ACMM court asking the CBI Director to sensitise subordinate officers on issuance of LOC..The special court, after hearing the parties, proceeded to ask Patel to file his reply, while granting interim relief to CBI. .[Read Order]