Pune-based businessman, Hasan Ali Khan, arrested in an alleged multi-crore money laundering scam, has approached the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash a 1999 fake passport case registered against him in Pune.
According to the FIR registered on December 29, 1999 by Chatushringi police in Pune, Hasan had filed an application for renewal of passport in December 2005 in the Pune passport office and had allegedly given false information in the form.
It is alleged that Hasan had, in the renewal application form, given the name of his wife as Mehboob Neesa Begum, despite the fact that they had divorced in 2000 itself. Hasan had also allegedly, under the column of permanent address, given an address, which was sold by Mehboob soon after their divorce.
"There is no material to show that Hasan has forged documents while seeking renewal of the passport. Merely on the submission of the form, passport is not renewed. The application goes through various agencies and only after proper verification passport is renewed. In this case, too, Hasan received a fresh passport, which was valid till October 2010," Hasan's lawyer I. A. Bagaria said.
Hasan, in his petition, has sought for the FIR to be quashed and set aside and also sought a stay on the production warrant issued against him by a magistrate's court in Pune, after the police there sought his custody in the case.
"Hasan has similar cases registered against him in Mumbai and Patna. While he was granted bail in the Mumbai case, the police have filed their chargesheet in the Patna case. He (Hasan) can't be taken from one city to another for interrogation," Bagaria argued.
Justice R. V. More has posted the petition for hearing on February 6.