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.
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Govt floats tender for new Shivaji Maharaj statue in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg
Mumbai (PTI): In the wake of collapse of the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg, the Maharashtra government has issued a tender for the construction of a new 60-foot-tall statue there, nearly twice the size of the previous one, officials said on Wednesday.
The statue will be built at a cost of Rs 20 crore and the government has set a six-month timeframe for the completion of the work, they said.
A 35-foot-tall statue of the 17th century Maratha empire founder, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg district on December 4 (Navy Day) last year, collapsed on August 26 amid strong winds.
The statue's sculptor, Jaydeep Apte, was later arrested.
The government has faced flak as the opposition parties alleged the decision to install the statue in Sindhudurg was taken haphazardly, which resulted in poor quality of work.
Maharashtra Public Works Department (PWD) had flagged concerns over rust gathering on Shivaji Maharaj’s statue and suggested permanent measures in a letter sent to a Naval official just six days before the structure collapsed.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had said the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy.
He claimed winds were blowing at 45 km per hour when the statue collapsed.
A tender has been issued for the construction of a new statue and its height would be 60 feet, a PWD official said.
"The total cost would now be Rs 20 crore, including its engineering, installation and maintenance. The government has given six months to complete the work. The height of the statue would be 60 feet," the official said.
