Sushant Singh Rajput death case: Bombay High Court quashes LOCs against Rhea Chakraborty, brother and father

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha A Deshpande passed the verdict in a plea by the three members of the Chakraborty family.

Rajput was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14, 2020. His father, in July 2020, complained to the Bihar Police, alleging that Rhea, Rajput’s girlfriend, and her family members had abetted his suicide.

Rhea was arrested in September 2020 in connection with a drugs case filed by the CBI and granted bail in October 2020. The Centre did not challenge it further before the Supreme Court. Among the conditions of her bail was seeking permission from the court before travelling out of the country.

The plea by Rhea claimed that subsisting LOC prevented her from fulfilling work commitments, and she had not evaded arrest and was cooperating with the probe. Earlier this month, the high court had asked the CBI whether a mere FIR against petitioners was sufficient to issue LOC. It was also noted that the CBI case had been pending since 2020, and no chargesheet or closure report had been filed to date.

After the court had asked whether the petitions before it were maintainable since the CBI FIR was filed in Patna before the central agency’s Delhi office took it over, the petitioners argued that the Bombay High Court had the jurisdiction to decide the pleas as both Rajput and Rhea were residents of the city and the probe was being conducted in Mumbai.

The CBI had opposed the contentions, stating that the court had denied Rhea’s plea to transfer the case to Mumbai. The bench had said there should be a conclusion in the case at some point.

In December 2023, the high court suspended the LOC issued against Rhea and allowed her to travel to Dubai for a week (December 27 to January 2) for a pet food company’s event as a brand ambassador. In September 2023, it suspended the LOC against Showik, permitting him to travel to Australia.

The bench held that the submission of special public prosecutor Shreeram Shirsat for BCI that the LOCs be kept pending and petitioners can file application for suspension when they wish to travel abroad, ‘cannot be entertained.’ The HC noted petitioners were last called in September 2021.

The HC observed, “The right to travel is a fundamental right and cannot be curtailed except according to procedure established by law. The LOC cannot be kept pending indefinitely, in this case for more than 3.5 years, though the petitioners have cooperated with the investigation, which fact has not been disputed. There is already a condition imposed on petitioners Showik and Rhead in the NDPS case not to leave the country without the permission of the court.”

“Thus, for the reasons stated aforesaid, we allow all petitions and quash and set aside LOCs issued against all the petitioners. Needless to state that it is always open for the authorities to issue LOC against the petitioners, if the occasion arises so in future,” it held.