Court rejects plea to cancel LOC against ex-CFO of firm linked to Nirav Modi
Ravi Gupta, who was named as an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) 'fraud' case, had sought to cancel the LOC against him, stating that it was preventing him from travelling abroad for his work.
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Nirav Modi (File)A special court on Thursday rejected an application seeking to cancel a look-out circular (LOC) issued against the former chief financial officer of a firm linked to fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi.
Ravi Gupta, who was named as an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) ‘fraud’ case, had sought to cancel the LOC against him, stating that it was preventing him from travelling abroad for his work.
Gupta said that he had cooperated with the CBI probe and had appeared before the agency 31 times. He pointed out that he had neither been arrested in connection with the case nor charge-sheeted. Gupta said he was shocked to learn of the LOC and had requested CBI to cancel it, but it was not done.
The CBI opposed Gupta’s plea, stating that Firestar International Limited and Firestar Diamond International Private Limited, linked to Modi, had cheated PNB to the tune of Rs 321.88 crore. The agency pointed out that Gupta had held a key position in the first company. It said that
the investigation was still on and there was a likelihood of him fleeing the country. The CBI also said that the court did not have the jurisdiction to cancel the LOC. The court agreed with the CBI’s contention, stating that the LOC was not issued by the court but by an investigating officer during the investigation.
“…. No doubt, the LOC can be cancelled by the court but only when it has been issued by the court. Herein, the LOC under challenge is not issued by this court,” said Special Judge A S Sayyad.
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