New Delhi(IANS) : A city court Thursday allowed Chandraswami, facing trial in 11 Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) violation cases, to go abroad.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) A.K. Kuhar asked the controversial godman to submit security bonds before leaving the country.
The court, however, made it clear that he could remain out of the country only for 30 days and he will have to attend the proceedings in the FERA violation cases, in which he allegedly owes over Rs.96.5 million as penalty to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The order came a few days after a Tis Hazari court, hearing a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) against Chandraswami, granted him permission to go abroad to perform religious rituals and meeting his disciples.
Earlier, arguing before the ACMM, senior advocate P.N. Lekhi, appearing for Chandraswami, based his argument on the permission already received by his client from another court, and said that this court too could give him relief on similar grounds.
While ED argued that the accused could tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses during his foreign visit, Lekhi dubbed the argument as “baseless”.
Chandraswami had approached the trial court after the Delhi High Court refused to hear his application, saying the lower court was the right forum to raise the issue of permission for his foreign visit.
The ED opposed his plea and expressed fears that he may not come back as he owed a large amount as penalty imposed on him in 11 FERA violation cases.
In the FCRA case, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjeev Jain on Dec 6 had granted him permission to go abroad from Dec 20 to Jan 20 and had asked him to furnish a personal bond and surety of Rs.2 million each.