Delhi High Court rejects plea by Shivinder Mohan Singh to travel abroad for sons' graduation

The Delhi High Court on June 26 rejected former Religare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's plea seeking permission to travel abroad and attend the graduation ceremony of his two sons [Shivinder Mohan Singh v SFIO & Anr]..Single-judge Justice Dharmesh Sharma said that since Singh has sizeable properties outside India, he might not return to India if he is allowed to go abroad."To sum up, this Court finds that having regard to the fact that prima facie it appears that the petitioner has sizeable assets and properties, directly or indirectly, outside India in foreign jurisdictions as discussed hereinabove and there is a strong inference that if liberty to go abroad is granted to him, he may not come back to India to face the investigation and trial, as and when it commences," the Court said. Therefore, it rejected the plea and refused to suspend a look-out circular (LOC) issued against him in connection with an investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) into the affairs of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) and related entities..The Court was hearing a plea by Singh to overturn an order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge on June 5. The Sessions Judge had denied the petitioner's request to suspend the LOC against Singh and allow him to travel abroad from June 14 to July 4 and from August 20 to September 20.This led to the plea before the High Court..The counsel for SFIO argued that although the petitioner has justifiable emotional and personal reasons to attend the graduation ceremony of his sons, the paramount economic interest of the company cannot be brushed aside, particularly when there are prima facie findings that more than ₹1,800 crores have been siphoned off out of India.The High Court after hearing the parties ruled that there was no illegality or perversity in the trial court's decision.It emphasized that the investigation being conducted by the SFIO in the public interest to protect the economic and national interests of the country, was on a "much higher pedestal"."Indeed, attending the graduation ceremony of his son, which event is a once in a lifetime experience, is a momentous occasion in one's life and the sentiments of fatherly love for the son cannot be brushed aside, but the same has to be given way in order to further the paramount national interest and fundamentally safeguard the interests of the stakeholders who have been deprived of their hard-earned investments in REL‟ and other companies," the Court said..It further noted that there were sufficient grounds to infer that the petitioner might not return in case he is allowed to go abroad.“Unhesitatingly, this court finds that the reliefs claimed by the petitioner seeking permission to go abroad to attend the graduation ceremony of his two sons on the scheduled dates cannot be allowed. There are sufficient grounds to raise an inference that in case such liberty is granted to the petitioner, he may abuse the same and may not come back to India so as to scuttle the entire investigation and the ensuing process,” the Court observed while denying the plea.Senior Advocate Amit Sibal along with Advocates Aditya Dewan, Shiven Varma, Neeha Nagpal and Vishvendra Tomar appeared for petitioner.Central Government Standing Counsel Arunima Dwivedi along with Advocates Piyush Kumar, Anand Kumar, Vibhav Singh and Pinky Pawar appeared for respondents..[Read Order]