By IANS,
New Delhi : Arms dealer Suresh Nanda can approach the passport office for the release of his passport which was impounded by the government after he was accused of receiving kickbacks in the purchase of Israeli Barak missiles in 2000, the Delhi High Court said Friday.
Nanda’s passport was seized in 2006 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that is probing the multi-million-dollar Barak missile deal. He was later allowed by a trial court to go abroad but was restrained by the Delhi High Court.
Nanda then approached the Supreme Court which on Jan 24 last year said the seizure of the passport by the CBI was illegal and the law doesn’t authorise the investigating agency to take such an action.
The CBI then released his passport but it was impounded by the External Affairs Ministry in February last year.
In his petition, Nanda alleged that the government was harassing him by not releasing his passport. He said his businesses all over the world were suffering.
“The petitioner shall appear before the appellate authority on March 10 and place documents which he considers to be relevant for this purpose,” Justice S. Muralidhar said.
Pulling up the CBI for its callous approach towards the case, the court said: “If the investigation in a criminal case is not concluded even five years after an FIR is registered, does it mean that throughout this period the passport of an accused has to be kept impounded?”
Nanda, son of former navy chief S.M. Nanda, is accused of receiving Rs.4 million ($99,943.82) in kickbacks after a deal to purchase Israeli Barak missiles was signed during the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule.
The $100 million deal had come under the scanner after it was alleged that the then defence minister George Fernandes had overruled, at the behest of Nanda, the opinion of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that it could develop a system similar to the Barak.