The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed Roshini Kapoor, daughter of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, to file a fresh application before the concerned lower court regarding permission to travel abroad.
Earlier on September 14, the Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice Milind Jadhav had pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for issuing a Look Out Circular (LOC) against an accused, even after the person had been arrested and subsequently granted bail by the court.
Roshni had filed a writ petition in the High Court, challenging the issuance of LOC against her by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at the request of CBI.
Kapoor, along with her mother and sister, were taken into custody by the court after the filing of charge sheet and were later granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in 2021.
In 2022, she sought permission to travel outside the country for a wedding and for re-establishing ties with her family. However, the High Court told her to first challenge the LOC issued against her and then seek permission to travel.
During the hearing on September 14, the Bench had sought answer from Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar, who appeared for both and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), under which law an LOC was issued when the accused had been released on bail by the Supreme Court.
The High Court then noted that the national agencies were ‘superseding’ judicial orders and also ‘overreaching’ the Parliament now.
Venegaonkar justified the LOC, stating that in several cases, despite conditions imposed by the Court while granting bail, the accused have jumped the order and crossed the territories of the country, making it difficult for the agencies to track them.
Even when leave was granted by a court to the applicant to seek permission to travel, circumstances had to be looked into before granting the same, added the Counsel.
Taking a different stand, the High Court ruled that the purpose was to stop an accused from fleeing from the country without due process of law. But here, there were bail conditions. the Bench then noted that the agencies could not be superpowers and were not permitted to go above the law.
Representing Roshni Kapoor, Advocate Pranav Badheka had contended that her passport was deposited with CBI and in the event she wanted to travel abroad, she had to obtain prior permission.
The petitioner contended that keeping a LOC on an accused, who had been arrested, was superseding the law. She said even though she was not presently in jail, but she was in the custody of the court with stringent conditions imposed on her.
Both the ED and CBI were probing Roshni Kapoor and other members of her family, for their alleged involvement in the Rs 4,000 crore Yes Bank-DHFL quid-pro-quo case of 2020.