Choksi's passport issued without police verification: Mumbai Police
Mumbai, Aug 4 : Mumbai Police on Saturday said the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here had issued a passport to the absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the PNB fraud, after granting him a no ‘Police Verificiation Required (PVR) status.
Accordingly, no PVR was generated for the passport, issued under the ‘Tatkal' category on September 10, 2015, valid for 10 years, said an official statement.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said on Friday that a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) was issued on the basis of a clear PVR available on his (Choksi's) passport.
However, according to the Mumbai Police today, it was only after nearly one-and-a-half years - on February 23, 2017 - that Choksi had applied for getting a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) to the RPO.
On February 24, 2017, the Malabar Hill Police downloaded the Personal Particular Form for police verification, prior to issuing the PCC.
On March 10, 2017, it submitted the PCC report of "no criminal antecedents against Choksi." This was done after duly checking the Criminal Antecedents and Information System (CAIS) of Mumbai Police for checking the criminal records of any passport applicant within its jurisdiction.
"The system will reflect only the applicant's name if he has been arrested in any offence," said the statement. Four days later, on March 14, 2017, the Passport Branch of SBI-II, CID, had forwarded its PCC report to the RPO.
Yesterday, MEA's spokesperson Kumar had said that all passport issuing authorities can issue a PCC if there is a clear PVR in the system, and in case there is no PVR, then a fresh PVR is obtained prior to issuance of a PCC.
"As the PVR of Mehul Choksi was clear in the system at the time of issuance of PCC, the process followed by the Passport Office, Mumbai was as per extant instructions," he stated, adding that the PCC was issued to Choksi in March 2017 for his travel to Antigua and Barbuda.
Choksi flew out of India from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here on January 04, 2018.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an FIR against him January 31, and a fortnight later, in mid-February, the scam erupted after PNB admitted that it had been defrauded.
On February 23, 2018, the RPO Mumbai had revoked Choksi's passport.
In the wake of controversies surrounding Choksi's citizenship of Antigua, the Mumbai Police has now initiated an investigation into the process of issuing PVR, and examining its internal processes involved in the criminal antecedents verification process to improvise the existing systems.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Intruder entered Jeh's room first; demanded Rs 1 cr: staff nurse at Saif's house tells police
Mumbai, Jan 16 (PTI): A staff nurse at the house of actor Saif Ali Khan, who was attacked by an unidentified intruder early Thursday morning, recounted the horrifying incident in her statement to the police and said the man demanded Rs 1 crore when confronted.
The intruder first entered the room of Saif and Kareena Kapoor-Khan's younger son Jeh, said Eliyama Philip, the complainant in the case.
The stabbing attack inside his 12th floor apartment in Bandra left Saif Ali Khan severely injured with a piece of knife in his spine, necessitating an emergency surgery.
As per Eliyama Philip, employed as caretaker and nurse for Jeh, she woke up around 2 am after hearing a sound in Jeh's room and found the bathroom light on.
Philip had given dinner to Jeh on Wednesday night and put him to sleep around 11pm. She too slept on the floor in the same room along with a nanny.
"I sat up to see who was in the bathroom when I saw a short, thin man come out and move towards Jeh's bed. I immediately stood up," she said in the statement.
The man pointed a finger at her and said in Hindi, "Koi Awaaz Nahi (don't make any sound)."
"I still walked towards Jeh to wake him up. The man had a wooden stick in his left hand and in his right hand he had a long, hacksaw-like blade. He rushed towards me," Phillip said.
"In the scuffle, he attacked me with the blade. I got hurt on my wrist. I asked him what he wants. He said he wants money and he needs Rs 1 crore," said Philip, who has been working with the Khan couple for four years, in her statement.
The nanny raised an alarm, and Saif and Kareena ran to the hall where the intruder and the two women were now standing.
"The intruder attacked Saif. All the other staff of the house too came running," the statement said.
Phillip and others ran out of the room in panic as the intruder scuffled with Saif. When they went back, the main door was open and the intruder was gone.
Saif was injured in the back of his neck, right shoulder, back, wrist of the left hand and elbow. There was a lot of blood, Philip said.
As per the complaint, the intruder was around 35 to 40 years old.
CCTV footage obtained by the police showed the man escaping through the staircase.
More than 20 teams have been formed to nab the suspect, said Satyanarayan Choudhary, joint commissioner of police (law and order.)
