HC reserves order on businessman plea challenging look out circular in corruption case

The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its order on a plea by a businessman seeking quashing of a look out circular issued against him in a corruption case, involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi and former CBI director A P Singh.

Justice Mukta Gupta heard the arguments on behalf of businessman Sathish Babu Sana and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and said the court would pass orders.

Sana has sought quashing of the look out circular (LOC) against him despite he appearing before the CBI every time he is summoned for questioning in the case.

When the court observed that there was no allegation against Sana that he was evading, the CBI's counsel said there was an apprehension that he might evade.

The court was informed by Sana's counsel that the LOC issued against Qureshi and businessman Pradeep Koneru, who are allegedly involved in the case, have already been quashed by a trial court and the high court respectively.

During the hearing, the counsel also apprised the court that the Supreme Court had modified the high court's order which had asked Qureshi to deposit Rs 6 crore to travel to the UAE and Pakistan.

The Supreme Court has reduced the amount from Rs 6 crore to Rs 2 crore, the counsel said.

The judge, however, pulled up the CBI counsel for concealing this fact from the high court and asked why the Supreme Court's order was not placed on record when the CBI was relying on the high court's Rs 6 crore order.

To this, the CBI counsel said he was not concealing or hiding anything from the court and was about to inform about it.

Sana's counsel had earlier submitted that there was no complaint of the businessman not cooperating in the investigation, and that he was not an accused in the case.

The CBI counsel had contended that Sana's role had come up in the case and the purpose of issuing the LOC against him was that he should not leave the country.

He had claimed that Sana was required for further investigation and urged the court to direct him to give details of his assets and properties as he wanted to go abroad where he has business.

The court had earlier sought the CBI's stand on Sana's plea seeking quashing of the LOC on the ground that he has not been named in the FIR.

His counsel had said that his client was not named in the FIR yet and an LOC was issued against him.

Sana had said he came to know about the bar on his foreign travel on September 25, 2018, when he was going to France for his son's university admission.

In his petition, Sana has said that the FIR was lodged on February 17, 2017, and since then he has travelled abroad 15-16 times and returned to India each time.

Sana has alleged that the LOC issued against him was ''unfounded, illegal, malafide, arbitrary and violates his fundamental rights under the Constitution''.

He has also contended that according to a 2010 Union home ministry office memorandum and a high court judgment of the same year, an LOC can be issued only when a cognisable offence under the Indian Penal Code or other penal laws has been alleged against an accused.

It can also be issued if an accused was ''deliberately evading arrest'', not appearing before a trial court despite issuance of non-bailable warrants or if there is a likelihood that he may evade trial by leaving the country, the petition said.

The FIR, for which Sana was being questioned, was lodged in 2017 by the CBI after a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax department into money laundering and black money allegations against Qureshi allegedly revealed involvement of senior public servants.

The ED had written to the CBI in this regard and it had in 2017, lodged an FIR against meat exporter Moin Qureshi as well as former CBI director A P Singh and several others.