[Aakar Patel] Special CBI Court extends stay on ACMM order that set aside LOC

A Special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) Court on Tuesday extended the stay on the order passed by a Delhi Court which set aside the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued by the agency against former Amnesty International India chair Aakar Patel [CBI v. Aakar Patel]..Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann clarified that the operation of the entire order will be stayed pending the disposal of the revision petition filed by the CBI, as well as the contempt petition filed by Patel. "During the course of arguments learned Special PP for CBI submitted that operation of the impugned order be stayed till the final decision of the revision petition so that the cause of action is not frustrated. In the facts and circumstances it is deemed just and proper to stay operation of the impugned order dated 07.04.2022 till the final decision of the revision petition," the order read..The Court stated that it will pass an order on the central agency's revision plea on April 13..Appearing for the CBI, advocate Nikhil Goel informed the Court that between the last hearing and today, sanction for the Look Out Circular (LOC) against Patel has been received and filed. He said that there were four to five reasons for issuing LOC."He is involved in a number of cases. In one, his passport was with the court in Gujarat."Goel went on to assail the order passed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) on April 7, which set aside the LOC and urged the CBI Director to issue a written apology to Patel."ACMM says provisions in Code (of Criminal Procedure) will ensure his availability, but that stage hasn't come," Goel argued..He went on to state,"He is giving newspaper interviews that Government of India has personal vendetta against him. Usually accused comes and says it is a media trial, but here the situation is reverse. Because he is a media man."On Patel's claim that he suffered monetary loss as a result of not being allowed to board the flights, Goel said,"Where is the basis of the finding on the monetary loss? It is not our fault if he chooses to fly business class or first class.".Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir then made submissions on behalf of Patel. Challenging the issuance of the LOC, Mir said that the pending case against Patel was filed in 2019 on the basis of a complaint by a politician in Surat."After summons were issued, I appeared and deposited my passport as a law abiding citizen. In this case, he (Patel) was called once and went once. It was not like investigation was getting delayed," he said.On the monetary loss suffered by Patel, Mir added,"When I booked my tickets, I booked from my own bank accounts. My program is not only limited to tickets but booking hotel...My wife and I are traveling by British Airways and we're stopped. We're told I have an LOC opened. What he (Patel) loses is ₹3.87 lakh then and there.".Mir went on to submit that the reasons for according sanction under Section 40 of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) to take action against Patel were confabulated."On merits, no reasons (for opening of LOC) were supplied...Finding no reasons were recorded, came an order (by ACMM)."He pointed out that the CBI, in its reply filed before Court, stated that Patel was well-connected outside India and thus could not be allowed to leave the country."With such usage of language, you had to have material to show I had previously made attempts to flee India," he said.Further, from the case diary of the CBI, there was nothing to show that Patel was a flight risk, Mir argued..I was not a flight risk for 26 months during the investigation, but I suddenly became a flight risk now.Tanveer Ahmed Mir for Aakar Patel.Mir also contested the CBI's claim that allowing Patel to travel to the US could potentially bring harm to US-India relations."What material is available to show that my departure and my giving a lecture in Michigan University, Berkeley, etc would be detrimental to unity, sovereignty of the country?"Pointing out how Patel was stopped at the airport for the second time despite the ACMM's order, Mir said that the CBI was required to intimate the immigration authorities immediately. "You (CBI) being there in court, you could have asked court to put in abeyance the order...My agony is that my fundamental rights to travel abroad are being steamrolled," he said. .In rejoinder submissions, Goel said that unlike in a case diary, there is no ground to record the basis of issuance of an LOC."...if rights of natural justice is inserted everywhere, then there will be no investigation," he said, asking the Court to stay the ACMM order which set aside the LOC..After hearing the parties, the Court said,"Operation of impugned order to be stayed till final decision of the revision petition.".Last week, the Special CBI Court had ordered that Patel cannot leave India without its permission. It also stayed the order passed by ACMM Pawan Kumar on April 7 to the extent that it asked the CBI Director to send a written apology to Patel.The order was passed on a revision application filed by the CBI against the ACMM order which set aside the LOC issued by CBI against Patel. The magistrate order was passed in Patel's plea filed after he was stopped from boarding a flight to the United States (US) on April 6. He was told that he could not fly out of the country as an LOC had been issued against him by the CBI. After the magistrate's order, Patel again booked tickets to the US, but was once again stopped at Bengaluru Airport on April 7 by immigration authorities, since the CBI had not withdrawn the LOC. The agency, meanwhile, filed a revision application assailing the magistrate's order.The LOC was purportedly issued in relation to a case regarding evasion of 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)..CBI Court directs Aakar Patel not to leave country without its permission; stays direction to CBI Director to tender apology.[Read Order]