Pending customs investigation and flight risk justified refusal of foreign travel and substitution of cash for fixed deposit.

Where a pending customs investigation involves serious allegations of gold recovery and offences under the Customs Act, permission to travel abroad may be refused if there is a real risk that the person will not return or may hamper the investigation and filing of the charge sheet. The Court also held that permitting cash in place of the required fixed deposit was not justified in those circumstances. The orders allowing foreign travel and substitution of cash for the FDR were therefore set aside in favour of the petitioner.

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Issues: Whether the respondent was entitled to permission to travel abroad and to substitute cash in place of the required fixed deposit, in the face of a pending investigation involving serious customs offences.

Analysis: The petition challenged the orders permitting foreign and acceptance of cash instead of an FDR. The respondent was a foreign national, the investigation was still pending, the charge sheet had not been filed, and the allegations related to recovery of gold and suspected offences under the Customs Act, 1962. In these circumstances, the Court found a real that the respondent might not return and could hamper the investigation and filing of the charge sheet. The nature and gravity of the allegations also weighed against granting such permission at that stage.

Conclusion: The permission to travel abroad and the order allowing cash in lieu of the FDR were rightly set aside; the challenge succeeded in favour of the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a pending customs investigation involves serious allegations and there is a real risk of absconding or prejudicing the investigation, permission to leave the country may be refused.

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