A month after its expiry, the Madras High Court on Monday quashed a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued by the Bureau of Immigration on June 16, 2017 against former Union Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti P. Chidambaram at the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the INX Media case.
The LOC was valid when the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose had reserved its verdict in the case on March 19 but it expired by the time the judgment was delivered because a Union Home Ministry circular makes it clear that such circulars would be valid only for a year.
The CBI had got the LOC issued pending investigation into the charge of INX Media having paid kickbacks to Mr. Karti Chidambaram for allegedly scuttling a probe by the Department of Revenue into the allegation that it had received foreign investment of ₹305 crore without proper approval in 2007.
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However, the First Information Report in the case had been filed only on May 15, 2017 against INX Media’s former directors Indrani Mukherjea and Pratim Mukherjea alias Peter Mukherjea and Chess Management Services represented by its Director Karti Chidambaram and many others.
Allowing a writ petition filed by Mr. Chidambaram challenging the LOC, the Division Bench said the circular was liable to be set aside since it had been issued in hot haste when the conditions for its issuance did not exist. It, however, observed that the quashing of the LOC would not impact the criminal proceedings.