The Delhi High Court, on Monday, January 6th, granted Sameer Mahandru permission to travel to Dubai to visit his ailing father-in-law, despite opposition from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court ordered the release of Mahandru’s passport and temporarily suspended the Lookout Circular (LOC) against him, enabling him to travel with his wife and daughter between January 8 and January 16, 2025.
Justice Vikas Mahajan, presiding over the case, directed the trial court to facilitate the travel arrangements by stating, “The trial court is directed to release the passport of the petitioner. The LOC against the petitioner is also suspended temporarily.”
Mahandru, who had been granted regular bail on September 9, 2024, under stringent conditions including restricted international travel, successfully argued through his advocate Dhruv Gupta that similar permissions had been granted to co-accused individuals in the liquor excise policy scam case. Gupta noted that co-accused Dinesh Arora and Gautam Malhotra had also been allowed to travel abroad, with LOCs being suspended in Malhotra’s case.
Despite these precedents, the ED’s counsel, Advocate Gurnani, expressed strong reservations about allowing Mahandru’s overseas travel, citing the lack of specific documents to verify his father-in-law’s medical condition and emphasizing Mahandru’s significance in the ongoing trial proceedings.
After careful consideration of the arguments and the existing bail conditions, the court concluded that Mahandru had complied with all court directives thus far and should be allowed to attend to his family emergency. The Investigating Officer was instructed to notify the relevant authorities of the court’s decision, ensuring that Mahandru’s temporary travel did not hinder the legal process.
