Deposit Rs 60 crore or bank guarantee to travel to London: HC to Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty

A division bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Ranjitsinha R Bhonsale was hearing an interim application in a plea challenging the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against the couple.

Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra, Bombay High Court, Look Out Circular, LOC, cheating case, Economic Offences Wing,

Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty (File photo)

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday orally asked actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband businessman Raj Kundra to deposit Rs. 60 crore or produce bank guarantee from a nationalised bank of the said amount for suspension of the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against them in a cheating case to visit his ailing father in London. The court had earlier asked the couple to deposit Rs 60 crore to travel abroad for work purpose.

A division bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Ranjitsinha R Bhonsale was hearing an interim application in a plea challenging the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against them in connection with the probe by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Maharashtra Police in a Rs 60 crore cheating case. The LOC restricts their travel abroad.

On October 6, another bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar had orally asked the couple to deposit Rs 60 crore before pursuing their plea to travel abroad for work purpose. In the same month, the same bench had orally asked Shetty as to why she cannot become an approver in the cheating case. This came after her lawyer said there was no specific allegations against her and there was no direct connection between the alleged crime and Kundra’s company in question.

The petitioners, through senior advocate Aabad Ponda, submitted that last month, Kundra’s father was diagnosed with a chronic and unexplained iron-ammonia deficiency that is causing blood loss and several other complications. The petitioners added that Kundra’s father was experiencing recurrent episodes of breathlessness and his health condition was deteriorating, therefore the couple sought approval to travel to London at the earliest, until January 20, 2026.

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On Wednesday, Ponda told the Justice Gadkari-led bench that the applicant’s father, who is a resident of UK, is 79-years old and his haemoglobin count has fallen and the mother is 78-year-old. Therefore, the applicants were required to be with them.

“Give guarantee of the amount and go,” the judge orally remarked. Ponda said the Supreme Court has deprecated the practice of seeking deposit of the amount involved in the case for suspension of LOCs. He added that there was no law which stipulated deposit of the amount.

“What if you do not come back? What happens then? Government of India should go and check? Show me your clients’ bonafide. We will admit your plea and hear it,” Justice Gadkari orally responded

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Public Prosecutor Mankunwar Deshmukh said the previous bench too had orally asked the applicants to deposit Rs. 60 crore for consideration of their plea.

After the judges said the court will hear the plea after three weeks, the applicants’ lawyer sought urgent hearing and sought if any reasonable security or amount can be deposited, instead of depositing the entire amount of Rs. 60 crore. “Prosecution has shown some apprehension. Either deposit amount or produce bank guarantee of the nationalised bank of the said amount,” said Justice Gadkari and posted further hearing next week.