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HC upholds Chhota Rajan's brother's plea against passport office

The Bombay high court Monday quashed the order of the chief passport officer rejecting Deepak Sadashiv Nikalje's plea for renewal of his passport. Nikalje, a film producer, is ganglord Chhota Rajan's brother.

Chief Justice B P Singh and S Radhakrishnan set aside the order of the CPO on the ground that he had not given the appellant an opportunity to state his case.

The court also quashed an earlier order of the regional passport officer in Bombay refusing to renew Nikalje's passport.

The judges directed the passport officer to hear the petitioner's case afresh before October 10.

Nikalje moved the high court on August 14 after the CPO refused to renew his passport. A top officer at the regional passport office filed a reply contending that there were adverse police reports against the petitioner and that the police feared the passport may be used for criminal acts, he said.

Nikalje's counsels Rajendra Singh and Satish Maneshinde submitted that both orders (of the CPO and the RPO) were bad in law as no opportunity had been given to the petitioner to be heard in the matter.

Nikalje argued that he had not been convicted for any offence and there were no cases pending against him. The authorities could not refuse him passport just because he happened to be the brother of Chhota Rajan, he said.

PTI

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