Delhi court orders withdrawal of lookout circular against former MP Kuldeep Bishnoi

HISAR: Delhi's Tis Hazari Court has ordered withdrawal of a lookout circular (LOC) issued by the income tax office against BJP leader and former MP Kuldeep Bishnoi in four cases related to the Black Money Act but with certain conditions.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Anurag Thakur asked Bishnoi to deposit an FDR of Rs 2 crore in the court, besides seeking undertaking that he would not dispose of the foreign immovable assets, he shall seek permission from the court by describing the programme and purpose of his visit to foreign country 30 days before undertaking the journey and would appear for investigation before the investigating agency on three days' notice.
On November 7, a petition was filed in the court on behalf of Bishnoi seeking quashing of the LOC against him. In his petition, Bishnoi said four cases of the Black Money Act were pending against him and he has got bail in all the cases. The petition also stated that there was no bar on his travel abroad. However, there was a condition that he needs to inform the court 15 days before undertaking the journey to a foreign country. He pointed out that he was regularly appearing in the court in all the four cases and was also cooperating in the investigation. He stated that he was a politician and could not run abroad and hence, there was no ground to retain the LOC.
The investigating agency, however, opposed Bishnoi's application, saying the investigation regarding the foreign assets of Kuldeep Bishnoi was still underway and he was in full control of his and his son Bhavya Bishnoi's foreign assets. If the LOC is quashed, he can destroy the evidence by destroying his foreign assets, the agency argued.
After hearing both sides, the court referred to several decisions of the Delhi High Court and said the investigating agency could issue an LOC only if the accused either willfully does not appear in the court despite a non-bailable warrant and is evading arrest or may flee abroad to avoid trial and arrest.
The case of Bishnoi does not fall in this category, the court observed. If he is giving an evasive and unsatisfactory reply, then the LOC cannot be issued on this ground, the court observed, adding that he could not be barred from going abroad on the basis of the suspicion.
The probe agency, meanwhile, pointed out that Bishnoi had assets in dozens of countries spanning Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and North America.
However, the court observed that the applicant was from an influential political family and all his family members were from India and had substantial assets in India. Therefore, it is not expected that the applicant will flee abroad, harming his political career, the court remarked.
The agency stated that if Bishnoi was allowed to go abroad, he would attempt to dispose of the property and destroy the evidence.