The Bombay High Court cancelled Look Out Circulars (LOC) issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation against actor Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, and their father Indrajit Chakraborty on Thursday.

“The LOCs are quashed and set aside. We have dismissed your (CBI) arguments on maintainability and we have said that it is needless to say that the authority to invoke the LOC whenever the circumstances arise,” the Bombay High Court said in its order.

An LOC is a notice issued to the Indian Bureau of Immigration to stop the foreign travel of individuals facing prosecution, aiming to prevent them from leaving the country or to detain them.

The CBI requested the court to pause the order for four weeks to allow them to approach the Supreme Court. However, the bench refused to permit it.The bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Manjusha Deshpande had reserved its order on the petitions filed by the Chakrabortys on February 8.

The bench observed that the CBI's apprehension of the Chakrabortys fleeing the country was never mentioned as a reason for issuing the circular. Additionally, the LOC order only mentions the FIR as the basis for issuing the circular.

The circulars against the Chakrabortys were issued by the CBI following the registration of an FIR in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case in 2020. Rhea could not travel abroad despite work commitments, prompting her to approach the court seeking quashing of the LOC. As an interim relief, both Rhea and Showik were permitted to travel abroad after the High Court suspended the circular in December 2023.