A Delhi court has asked former Amnesty India head Aakar Patel not to leave the country without permission on Friday while acting on a petition moved by CBI challenging a special court order that provided relief to the writer-activist.

The Delhi court, ndtv.com reported, also put on hold yesterday's order that asked the CBI to "immediately" hand in a written apology to the writer-activist, who was stopped from flying to the US.

The Delhi sessions court acted on the CBI's petition challenging a special court's order yesterday giving relief to Aakar Patel, who had approached the court after he was stopped from flying to the US on Wednesday.

The case will be taken up again next Tuesday.

Effectively, Patel cannot go abroad for now and will not get any apology from the CBI.

Earlier in the day, Patel filed a contempt petition before the court against the investigating officer of the case of alleged violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act for non compliance of the court's order passed on Thursday.

Patel's counsel claimed that he was stopped again on Thursday night at an airport and was informed that the CBI had not withdrawn the LOC.

The court had noted that apart from the monetary loss, the applicant had suffered mental harassment as he was not allowed to undertake his visit on the scheduled time.

"The applicant can approach the court or other forum for the monetary compensation. This court is of the considered opinion that in this case, a written apology from the head of the CBI, ie Director, CBI, acknowledging the lapse on the part of his subordinate, to the applicant would go a long way in not only healing the wounds of the applicant but also upholding the trust and confidence of the public in the premier institution," the judge had said.

Patel's application had further sought the court's permission to visit the US to take up his foreign assignment and lecture series organised by various universities till May 30.

It had submitted that Patel was stopped by immigration authorities at the Bangalore International Airport on Wednesday while he was boarding a flight to the US.

The application claimed that the action was taken despite an order by a Gujarat court granting him permission to travel abroad.