Sunil Kumar Agrawal, an accused in the alleged Chhattisgarh coal levy money laundering case, had sought permission from the Chhattisgarh High Court to let him fly to Abu Dhabi for a medical procedure he wanted to undergo. The court denied his plea saying that India had world-class healthcare facilities.

The court made an observation that businessman Agrawal had not produced any convincing medical material to justify that treatment in Abu Dhabi was mandatory. The court said ‘personal preference cannot be equated with absolute medical necessity’.

Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas, who heard the petition, found the allegations against Agrawal showed properties amounting to Rs. 96 crore were acquired by the petitioner through sham transactions.

Agrawal had told the court that doctors at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre diagnosed his injury in the left leg and advised surgery, but he preferred the non-surgical KKT treatment available in the UAE.

After finding Agrawal’s medical records from Lilavati Hospital, including his X-ray reports and consultation papers, having no recommendation by any doctor for treatment abroad, the court noted: ‘Even otherwise, the medical infrastructure within India possesses world-class expertise, state-of-the-art diagnostic tools, and therapeutic facilities capable of treating the petitioner’s condition. The choice of an accused to be treated in a specific foreign country cannot override the mandate of law when equivalent medical treatment is readily accessible domestically. Personal preference cannot be equated with absolute medical necessity.’

The court also observed that Agrawal’s claim regarding the non-availability of KKT treatment rested largely on internet printouts, not on authoritative medical evidence. – editor@nrifocus.com