A Chandigarh special CBI court has allowed Vineet Gupta, an accused in the alleged Rs 1,600-crore SBI consortium bank fraud involving Chandigarh-based pharmaceutical firm Parabolic Drugs Ltd, to travel abroad for over a month to visit his daughters for family vacation.Special Judge Bhawna Jain of CBI Court, Chandigarh, granted permission to Gupta, 56, resident of South Delhi, to visit France, the USA, Japan and Mexico from June 10 to July 20, while rejecting CBI’s objections that he could flee the country due to the “high magnitude economic offence”.The court, however, imposed stringent conditions, including furnishing a Rs 50-lakh indemnity bond and depositing an FDR of Rs 15 lakh before the court.Gupta had also sought revocation of the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against him. CBI informed the court that LOC had already been closed with effect from August 1, 2024, and was no longer in force.Opposing the plea, CBI submitted that the case involved “complex transactions” and alleged diversion of loan funds by Parabolic Drugs Ltd. The agency argued that Gupta was involved in a socio-economic offence involving a bank fraud of around Rs 1,600 crore and there was every likelihood that he might evade the legal process if allowed to travel abroad.The federal agency further claimed that his departure from India would be detrimental to the country’s economic interests.The court, however, observed that CBI had failed to place any material on record to show that Gupta had ever tried to abscond or hamper the proceedings. It also noted that he had previously travelled abroad with the court’s permission and had never misused the concession.Referring to the Supreme Court judgment in Satish Chandra Verma vs Union of India, the court said the right to travel abroad was an important human right linked to personal liberty, family life and individual freedom.“In the given circumstances, there is nothing on record to decline the request of the applicant,” the court observed.The court directed Gupta to share his complete itinerary, addresses, mobile number and email details with the investigating officer, keep his phone switched on at all times and not visit any country other than those permitted by the court.He has also been directed to return to India by July 20 and appear before the court on the next working day along with his passport.The case stems from a December 29, 2021 CBI FIR against Chandigarh-based Parabolic Drugs Ltd and its promoters/directors for allegedly cheating the SBI-led consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 1,626.74 crore.Among those named in the FIR were the company’s Managing Director Pranav Gupta, directors Vineet Gupta, Deepali Gupta, Rama Gupta, Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sanjeev Kumar, Vandana Singla, Ishrat Gill and JD Gupta, besides two guarantors.CBI had then conducted raids at multiple locations in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali, Ludhiana, Faridabad and Delhi, and claimed to have recovered Rs 1.58 crore cash along with incriminating documents.Parabolic Drugs Ltd’s corporate office was located in Sector 8, Chandigarh, while its manufacturing units were situated in Panchkula and near Derabassi in Mohali.