HC rejects plea accusing Wadettiwar of suppressing criminal cases

Nagpur: In a relief to social welfare minister Vijay Wadettiwar, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by former MLC Mitesh Bhangdiya, accusing the former of suppressing ten criminal cases while applying for passport on May 29, 2001.
A division bench comprising justices Sunil Shukre and Avinash Gharote clarified that since the relief and rehabilitation minister surrendered his passport, and it was impounded by the passport office here, there’s no point in keeping the petition pending.
The judges also rejected petitioner’s prayers to keep the petition pending till investigations by the passport office into allegations against Wadettiwar are completed, terming them premature.
Bhangdiya, through counsel Shreerang Bhandarkar, accused Wadettiwar of allegedly committing an offence under the Passport Act, 1967, by hiding information about his criminal antecedents.
According to him, the Bramhapuri MLA had applied for a passport for a second time on January 25, 2007, but again suppressed the same information. Subsequently, he was issued a passport on May 11, 2012, for the second time, without verification.
Earlier, the petitioner filed many complaints with the state government and ministry of external affairs (MEA) against the minister before moving HC. He claimed that Wadettiwar had wrongly mentioned in his affidavit to the passport office that his address was of Mumbai, whereas he stays in Gadchiroli and mentioned the same address on his income tax return forms.
Despite an adverse verification report submitted by the police, passport was issued to the minister, which shows a nexus between the officials and him, Bhangdiya alleged.
After the petition was filed, the passport office impounded Wadettiwar’s passport on December 18 and later he surrendered it personally at the Passport Department’s Seminary Hills office. He had told TOI that his passport form was filled by the agent and it was the passport office’s duty to conduct verification before issuing it.