The Delhi high court Tuesday upheld an order of the Enforcement Directorate impounding the passports of former external affairs minister Natwar Singh's son Jagat Singh, his business associate Andaleeb Sehgal and three others.
The court, however, asked the ED to review its February 10 order of impounding the passports and inform the petitioners within four months by June 10.
Hearing a petition moved by Suman Sehgal, father of Andaleeb, for release of his passport, Justice Ravindra Bhat dismissed it, upholding the ED's findings and subsequent decision to impound the travel document.
Suman declined to comment on the issue, saying the matter was sub-judice, while Andaleeb, who is out of station, said "My father is handling the entire legal matter."
The passports of Jagat Singh, Suman, prominent businessman Vijay Dhar, his son Vikas Dhar, youth Congress leader Jameel Zaidi and one Asad Khan had been seized by the ED earlier.
ED sources said they were seeking legal opinion on the action against Aditya Khanna, who had fled to the UK, despite a Letter of Cancellation issued against his passport.
The ED has revoked the passports on the basis of progress made in its probe into the dealings of Indian entities with the ousted Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq in the oil-for-food programme under the aegis of the UN between 1996 and 2003.
The ED investigating the Indian angle of Iraq's oil-for-food scam, as brought out by the Volcker Committee, has questioned several people including Natwar, Jagat, Andaleeb, director of Hamdan Exports, and Aniel Mathrani, India's former envoy to Croatia, several times. The passports of Andaleeb and Vikas Dhar are already with CBI in a case of running of an alleged illegal telephone exchange.