A special court here has allowed an NRI, accused of smuggling foreign currency, to travel to the United States to keep his Green Card status active.
Special Judge N K Malhotra allowed Virender Verma to go to the US for a month in October while directing him to furnish his travel itinerary, addresses and phone numbers of the places he would be staying.
It also directed him to furnish an additional security of Rs 5 lakh in the form of Fixed Deposit Receipt.
The special court’s directions came on an appeal filed against a magisterial court’s order denying him the opportunity to visit the USA.
In his application before the special court, he submitted that he had to visit USA within 180 days in order to retain his Green Card.
He said his wife, a US-citizen, was not well and was scheduled to undergo a surgery for which he was needed there.
The prosecution agency had opposed the application, claiming that earlier the accused was granted permission to go abroad when he had misused the concession.
Verma was arrested in connection with a smuggling case and the prosecution had alleged that he was the mastermind of a smuggling racket.
( Source – PTI )
