SSR Death Case: Bombay High Court Quashes LOCs Against Rhea Chakraborty, Her Brother Showik

The Bombay High Court has quashed Look Out Circulars (LOCs) issued against actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and their father Lt Col. Indrajit Chakraborty in connection with the alleged drugs case filed after the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The news was reported by Live Law on Thursday, February 22. The LOCs were issued by the CBI against the actress and her family members during the investigation of Sushant Singh Singh’s death in 2020. Rhea and Showik were also named as the accused in a drug case that came up during SSR’s death investigation.

The LOCs stopped Rhea, Showik and Indrajit from travelling out of the country without court’s approval. On Thursday, the court questioned the “CBI’s contention that the mere registration of an FIR justified the issuance of LOCs,” the report stated. The court also questioned about the jurisdiction since the original FIR against Rhea was filed by Sushant’s family in Patna before the CBI took over it.

Rhea’s advocates, Abhinav Chandrachud and Prasanna Bhangale, argued that the petition should have been filed in Mumbai since Rhea and Sushant were residents of Mumbai and added that the investigations also took place in the city. Showik and Indrajit’s lawyer Ayaz Khan agreed with the argument. He added that the LOC comes into play only if there is evidence that the accused was actively avoiding arrest or court proceedings, which wasn’t the case in Rhea and Showik’s case.

PTI reported that CBI’s advocate Shreeram Shirsat pleaded to the court to ‘stay the operation of its order for a period of four weeks’ so that it could file an appeal at the Supreme Court. However, the High Court refused to put a stay on the order. While the LOCs were issued in 2020, Showik received a temporary suspension on the order in September last year, allowing him to travel abroad.

Rhea and Showik were questioned by the CBI and NCB in 2020 after Sushant’s death. They were also arrested by NCB in a drugs case. While Rhea was released a month later, Showik was released a few weeks after.

Sushant died in June 2020. He was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14, 2020. Soon after his death, Sushant’s family accused Rhea of abetment of his suicide.