The CBI today vehemently opposed in the Supreme Court any permission for NRI businessman and controversial Vectra company chief Ravinder Rishi to visit the UK for medical treatment of his various ailments, saying he may not return.
Appearing before a Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and J. Chelameswar, Additional Solicitor-General Haren Raval submitted that the investigating agency was apprehensive that if Rishi was allowed to leave the country, he would not return.
The 57-year-old British national, Rishi, is facing a CBI probe in connection with alleged irregularities in supply of Tatra all-terrain trucks to the public sector BEML.
The ASG stated that the accused’s alleged role in the deal and conduct during the investigation does not inspire confidence and his plea to travel abroad was only an “attempt to evoke the sympathy of this court”.
The CBI placed before the Bench various medical reports, including sonography, to state “there is no danger” to his health.
Responding to certain queries from the bench, which was not convinced with the CBI’s argument, the ASG maintained that there were certain facts which cannot be stated in an affidavit but can be disclosed in a sealed cover to the court.
“There are certain things which we cannot put on an affidavit. I can disclose these things in a sealed cover to your Lordships as to what materials we have collected. He is the prime accused in the FIR, a central figure in all the documents of the investigating agency,” Raval said.
However, senior counsel for Rishi, Mukul Rohatgi rejected the allegations of the CBI and said it was only an attempt to “cover up” the role of the BEML in the entire episode.
“I am willing to keep my house in Delhi worth Rs 100 crore as a surety,” Rohatgi said, while seeking permission for his client to travel abroad.