Rhea Chakraborty granted permission by Bombay High Court to travel abroad, CBI raises objection

The  Bombay High Court has granted temporary relief to actress Rhea Chakraborty by suspending the Look-Out Circular (LOC) issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation against her. She shall be traveling to Dubai for professional reasons this week. As the CBI raised objections, the court observed, “She is not an industrialist. She is an actor who has her base here and is participating in a programme called Roadies. She is not a businessman, who has some ill-gotten gains. She has to come back and earn her bread and butter here.” The bench of Justices Kamal Khata and Jitendra Jain criticised the CBI for opposing Chakraborty’s travel request. Statement by CBI’s lawyer Advocate Shreeram Shirsat argued, “This is a solicited invite, and it has to be juxtaposed with the investigation that is going on. The email (about work in Dubai) that has been received is solicited as the company does not talk about a fresh contract and the last contract talks about deliverables in Mumbai. The CBI will be investigating at whose behest the email was sought.” The court asked, “So what, this is a contract between the company and the applicant (Chakraborty) and it is between them to see how they will satisfy the deliverables. Will CBI pay her if she is not able to go abroad?” Chakraborty had filed a petition in HC challenging a lookout circular issued against her by the CBI in connection with its probe into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. According to the agency, actor  Kiara Advani is now the brand ambassador. Shirsat sought some more time to verify this. Chakraborty’s counsel Abhinav Chandrachud urged the court to post the matter for hearing on Friday (December 22). Actor Rajput was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14, 2020. While the Mumbai police registered an accidental death report case and started a probe, the actor’s father in July 2020 lodged a complaint with the Bihar police alleging Rajput’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and her family members had abetted his suicide.