The order for deporting a leading Indian businessman for participating in anti-government rallies defying emergency in Thailand has been approved, even as he is seeking to petition the King to block the move.
Center for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) chief Chalerm Yoobamrung said he has already approved the deportation order of Satish Sehgal, the president of the India-Thai business forum.
The CMPO has alleged that 70-year-old Sehgal had led anti-government protesters to surround government offices including the Civil Aviation Department after a state of emergency was announced in the country.
Sehgal, 70, who has lived in Thailand for 65 years, has appointed his lawyers to petition the Thai King to intervene in his case and prevent him from being deported.
He will be represented by his lawyer Chup Chairerkchai and his younger brother Arthit Sehgal.
The pair is seeking to petition the King after Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan signed an order to revoke Sehgal's Thai residency and Chalerm signed a deportation order.
Now that both orders have been signed, police can arrest Sehgal and deport him.
However, Immigration Bureau Commissioner Lt Gen Phanu Kerdlarpphol said Sehgal has seven days to appeal against the deportation order. Phanu said he has not yet received the order from the Interior Ministry.
Phanu said after he receives the order, he will send a letter to Seghal to notify him and then the businessman must file an appeal against the order within seven days.
Sehgal has denied that he broke any laws.
On January 22, the Yingluck Shinawatra-led caretaker government put Bangkok under a state of emergency for 60 days to quell the protests.
Earlier, when local media reported a few weeks back that Sehgal could be deported, the businessman who has a publishing house here said he had not received any written order nor had any official talked to him.
Sehgal had denied going to any protest rally stage after the emergency decree was imposed.
"I dont have any political agenda. I have been adviser to 6 Thai ministers and I don't have inclinations to any party" Sehgal had said.
He also claimed the Interior Ministry had never summoned him to hear his version of the events.
Seghal, who holds an Indian passport, was an advisor to many former ministers, including those in the administration run by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother.
Sehgal's lawyer said his client had never violated the Immigration Act, which prohibits a foreigner from doing anything deemed detrimental to society.
The petition for a Royal intervention would be submitted through the office of the King's Principal Private Secretary, Sehgal was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post.
