The Bombay High Court quashed Look Out Circulars (LOC) issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty, and their father Indrajit Chakraborty. As per India Today, Bombay High Court said in its order, “The LOCs are quashed and set aside. We have dismissed your (CBI) arguments on maintainability and we have said that it is needless to say that the authority to invoke the LOC whenever the circumstances arise.”
Bombay High Court quashes CBI’s lookout circulars against Rhea
For the uninitiated, LOC is a notice issued to the Indian Bureau of Immigration to stop the foreign travel of individuals facing prosecution, aiming to stop them from leaving the country.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) requested the court to pause the order for four weeks to allow them to approach the Supreme Court. However, the court denied it. The bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Manjusha Deshpande had reserved its order on the petitions filed by the Chakraborty family on 8th of February. Furthermore, the bench observed that the CBI’s apprehension of the Chakraborty family fleeing the country was never mentioned as a reason for issuing the circular.
The circulars against Rhea and her family were issued by the CBI after the registration of an FIR in Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case. In 2020, Sushant was found dead at his Bandra home, Mumbai. Rhea, who was dating SSR at that time, landed in trouble. She spent 28 days in jail after SSR’s death and was later released on bail. The actress could not travel abroad, prompting her to approach the court seeking quashing of the LOC. In December last year, both Rhea and Showik were permitted to travel abroad after the High Court suspended the circular.
Advocates Shreeram Shirsat and Kuldeep Patil, representing the CBI, while objecting the plea, raised the issue of jurisdiction, as the FIR was initially registered in Patna by SSR’s family. After the case was transferred to the CBI, the counsel’s stated that the Chakraborty family should have approached the Patna High Court. Later, the advocates representing Rhea stated that it fell within the Bombay High Court’s jurisdiction.
On the work front, Rhea was seen as one of the judges of Roadies 19.
Also Read: Rhea Chakraborty remembers late Sushant Singh Rajput on his birth anniversary
