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Journalism of Courage
The passport of fugitive gangster Nilesh Ghaywal, suspected to be hiding in a foreign country, was cancelled by the Regional Passport Office in Pune on Thursday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Sambhaji Kadam confirmed the development, which comes days after Interpol issued a Blue Corner Notice against Ghaywal. A Blue Corner Notice is a request for information about a person’s identity, location, or activities in connection with a criminal investigation.
The Pune police had intensified action against Ghaywal after his gang members allegedly opened fire on a man and attacked a student with sharp weapons following a road rage incident in the Kothrud area of the city on September 17.
Two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered in this regard. While some members of his gang were arrested, the police booked Ghaywal and invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the cases.
In his petition filed before the Bombay High Court recently, Ghaywal claimed that he left India on September 9, but the police falsely booked him for the September 17 firing incident.
Booked in 12 offences—including murder and extortion—in the last month, the police have filed 10 more FIRs against Ghaywal and his gang members, including a separate case against him for illegally procuring a passport by submitting a false affidavit stating that no offences were registered against him.
According to the police, Ghaywal had applied for a Tatkal passport at the Regional Passport Office in Pune in 2019, stating that he was a resident of “Gauri Ghumat, Anandi Bazar, Maliwada Road, Ahmednagar (now renamed Ahilyanagar).” Failing to locate him at this address, the Ahilyanagar police entered a “not available” remark on his application, which was forwarded to the passport office in Pune on January 16, 2020. Despite this, a passport was issued to Ghaywal, using which he left India and is suspected to have travelled to London and Switzerland.
The police probe has also revealed that Ghaywal had allegedly mentioned his surname as ‘Gaiwal’ in his passport application. Officials confirmed that he did not surrender his passport as per the directions of the court when he was granted bail in 2022. Accordingly, the police submitted a report to the court and the passport office seeking the cancellation of his passport.
Meanwhile, the Pune police are also on the lookout for Ghaywal’s brother, Sachin alias ‘Sir’, a sports teacher at a school, who has been booked in several criminal cases, including an extortion FIR filed by a businesswoman.
