HC pulls up SFIO for ‘endless probe’, allows Anita Goyal to travel abroad

The couple approached the HC seeking cancellation of the look out circulars (LOC) issued against them and were seeking permission to travel to Dubai to visit their son and family for a month.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted permission to Anita Goyal, wife of Naresh Goyal – the founder of Jet Airways – to travel to Dubai and said that Naresh Goyal’s application to travel abroad would be heard in June.

However, the division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Sharmila Deshmukh expressed their displeasure over the protracted investigation, which was going on since 2019. “There has to be closure in cases. You cannot go on endlessly with an investigation,” noted the bench. (HT PHOTO)

The couple approached the HC seeking cancellation of the look out circulars (LOC) issued against them and were seeking permission to travel to Dubai to visit their son and family for a month.

The application stated that as the police had filed a closure report in the FIR registered against them in 2020 as well as the ECIR filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was also quashed and since they had cooperated with the investigation agencies, the purpose of the LOCs was served and hence it should be quashed.

The application also sought the return of the couple’s passport stating that Naresh Goyal was 74 years old and hence he and his wife should be permitted to travel abroad.

While opposing the application, advocate Hiten Venegaonkar for the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) submitted that the probe in the case was likely to conclude in September this year and hence the interim application should not be allowed.

Venegaonkar submitted that the magnitude of the fraud was large, and Naresh Goyal was not cooperating with the probe. He, however, added that though SFIO was opposing the duo travelling together, it had permitted Anita Goyal to travel alone.

Venegaonkar added that the SFIO was opposing Naresh Goyal’s application as he had properties in foreign locations and also had a bailable warrant issued against him for not responding to summons issued to him in the case.

Senior advocates Ravi Kadam and Aabad Ponda for Goyals submitted that the adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had permitted the return of their passport last year and as the ECIR against them in the money laundering case was also quashed on February 23, hence, the central agency had no right to withhold their passports.

However, advocate Shreeram Shirsat for ED submitted that Naresh Goyal could submit arguments before the appellate authority which the agency would move for staying the adjudicating authority’s order.

After hearing the submissions, the bench noted that as the said application would have to be heard at length, the hearing will be adjourned to June but added that SFIO was not opposing Anita Goyal’s travel and it would permit her to travel from April 20 onwards for a month.

“All LOCs against her imposed by SFIO, ED and SBI stand suspended for the month,” the bench noted.