By IANS
New Delhi : Former external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh’s Britain-based relative Vipin Khanna, who faces a probe over his alleged role in the Barrak Missile deal and the Iraq oil-for-food scam, was asked to approach the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) trial court for his passport which the agency had seized in March.
The Supreme Court asked Khanna to approach the designated CBI court, while directing the probe agency to deposit his passport to the lower court at Patiala House here within a fortnight.
An apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, issued the direction on Khanna’s plea challenging the seizure of his passport by the CBI.
Khanna’s counsel Mukul Rohtagi contended that seizing his passport restricted his travel plans and business activities and impinged upon his fundamental right of free movement.
Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Saran, however, vehemently opposed Khanna’s plea contending that he was involved in the Barrak Missile deal and accused him of having taken Rs.560 million as kickback.
In support of the accusation, Saran alleged that Khanna had visited Israel several times to illegally broker the deal.
Saran said he apprehended that once allowed to travel abroad, Khanna would not come back and not be available to join the investigation.
The bench, which also included Justices Tarun Chatterjee and R.V. Raveendran, asked Saran if the probe agency was empowered to impound the passport of a citizen.
Saran said as per the mandatory section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the police was empowered to seize any document from a suspect in case it feels it would help in the probe.
Asked how the passport would help, Saran said it was the document that showed Khanna’s visits abroad, including to Israel, on some crucial dates to broker the deal.
Asked by the bench if 75-year-old Khanna is an accused or merely a suspect in the case, Saran said he was an accused.