The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Maharashtra government's appeal challenging the Bombay High Court's decision to quash the Look Out Circulars (LOCs) issued against actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and their father in relation to a probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death.
A Division Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan today called the petition frivolous and remarked that it had been filed only because a high-profile person was involved.
Sensing the mood of the Court, the State counsel said, "My instructions are to bow down to Court."
At this Court said, "We were keen to pass some compliments to CBI. Don't file such pleas."
The Court then proceeded to dismiss the plea.
The LOCs had been issued by the immigration authorities at the behest of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has been probing Rajput's death on a complaint made by his family.
The Bombay High Court quashed the LOCs in February this year after finding that the agency had failed to spell out its reasons for the issuance of these LOCs.
Mere mentioning of an FIR or mentioning the gist of the FIR is not sufficient and can never be a reason for issuing an LOC, the High Court had said.
This verdict was challenged by the State before the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal today.
Rhea Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) in September 2020 after Rajput's death.
She was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in the drugs case a month later.
The bail became final after the Centre decided not to press its challenge against the bail order before the Supreme Court.
Chakraborty had then approached the Bombay High Court raising grievance that the subsisting LOCs prevented her from fulfilling her work commitments abroad.
She further argued that LOCs are issued only if an accused is evading arrest which was not the case in the present matter.
The High Court granted her and other family members relief in February, leading to the appeal before top court.