The Supreme Court Friday dismissed appeals challenging the Bombay High Court order quashing the Look Out Circulars against actress Rhea Chakraborty and others in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The Maharashtra Government, CBI, and the Bureau of Immigration had approached the Supreme Court challenging the February 22, 2024, order of the high court quashing the August 2020 circulars. Hearing the appeals, Justice B R Gavai presiding over a two-judge bench cautioned the petitioners that the plea was “frivolous” and was being filed “only because one of the accused is a high-profile person”. “We are warning you. You are filing such a frivolous petition only because one of the accused is a high-profile person. It will be dismissed with exemplary cost. Both persons have deep roots in society,” Justice Gavai remarked orally. Justice K V Viswanathan who was also part of the bench did not hide his surprise either. “You issue LOC for all this,” he exclaimed. The immigration authorities had issued the LOCs against Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty, their father and army veteran Indrajit Chakraborty, and mother Sandhya Chakraborty at the instance of CBI which probed Rajput’s death in 2020. An LOC bars an individual from travelling abroad without prior permission of the court. Rajput was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14, 2020. His father, in July 2020, complained to the Bihar Police that Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her family members had abetted his son’s suicide. Rhea Chakraborty was arrested in September 2020 in connection with a drug 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. In December 2023, the high court suspended the LOC issued against Rhea Chakraborty and allowed her to travel to Dubai for a week (December 27 to January 2) for a pet food company event as a brand ambassador. In September 2023, it suspended the LOC against Showik Chakraborty, permitting him to travel to Australia. The bench held that the submission of special public prosecutor Shreeram Shirsat that the LOCs be kept pending and petitioners can file applications 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 Rhea in the NDPS case not to leave the country without the permission of the court.”
