The CBI had issued the LOC to Rhea Chakraborty in connection with a probe related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in 2020.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday suspended the lookout circular (LOC) issued to actor Rhea Chakraborty by the CBI and allowed her to travel to Dubai for a week for an event being hosted by a pet food company.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had issued the LOC to Rhea Chakraborty in connection with a probe related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in 2020.
A vacation bench of Justices Kamal R Khata and Jitendra S Jain passed an order in a plea by Rhea Chakraborty, who, through advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, said she is the brand ambassador of a pet food manufacturer and has to travel to Dubai between December 27 and January 2.
On December 20, the CBI’s advocate Shreeram Shirsat submitted the actor was no longer the company’s brand ambassador and that the investigative agency had written to the firm to verify her claim and was awaiting its reply.
The CBI opposed Chakraborty’s plea, contending that the Bombay High Court did not have the jurisdiction to grant relief to her because the FIR in the case was registered in Bihar’s Patna and the case was being investigated by the probe agency’s Delhi team.
The bench granted the agency time to verify the claim and allowed Chakraborty to approach the vacation bench on December 26 seeking relief.
Earlier this month, a special court had directed the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to allow her to travel to Dubai for a week under conditions including that she surrender her passport on her return.
Chakraborty, who was arrested in September 2020 in connection with a drugs case filed by the CBI, was granted bail in October 2020. Among the conditions of her bail was that she must seek permission from the court before travelling out of the country.
In June 2022, she was permitted to go to Abu Dhabi for a film award, but she chose not to go stating that she was not aware that a lookout circular had been issued for her.
On Tuesday, the CBI submitted Chakraborty is no longer the company’s brand ambassador and another actor Kiara Advani has replaced her. However, Chakraborty’s lawyer submitted that his client is still a brand ambassador.
The court questioned the agency why it was opposing the plea while Chakraborty was not required for any probe for the last six months. The CBI responded that a new Special Investigation Team was formed in the case, to which the bench said the SIT was formed to investigate allied cases.
The court also noted that while the CBI FIR was lodged in Patna, the incident took place in Mumbai, therefore, it was competent to hear the plea and allowed temporary relief to Rhea Chakraborty with certain conditions.
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CREDIT: THE INDIAN EXPRESS
