Mumbai: The city police on Thursday questioned
Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, accused of stashing
away huge funds abroad, in connection with a fake passport
case.
A Sessions court had yesterday allowed Worli police to
interrogate Khan for two days in connection with the fake
passport case after they moved an application in this regard.
Khan, lodged in high-security Arthur Road jail in
connection with alleged money laundering, is also facing the
charge of tax evasion in a case filed by the Enforcement
Directorate.
"Our three-member team, led by Vasant Tajane (senior
inspector of Worli police station), questioned him today,"
said Additional Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey, refusing
to divulge further details.
Tajane said police could not question Khan at length as
he was taken to a government hospital for medical examination
and was brought to the jail at 4.45 PM.
"After Khan returned to jail, we interrogated him for
a while. Tomorrow again, we will go to the prison to question
him," he added.
Khan had been arrested in 2008 in connection with the
fake passport case but he obtained bail in January 2009.
He is facing criminal cases under the Passport Act for
allegedly obtaining a number of passports from different parts
of the country.
According to police, Khan had lost his original
passport issued by the Hyderabad`s Regional Passport Office
in 2006 when he was in England.
Subsequently, he was given a fresh passport, valid for
a year, by the Indian High Commission in England. He used that
to go to Switzerland and Canada, police added. Later, Khan
applied for a new passport in Pune.
However, police found that the billionaire had two
other passports procured by submitting fake documents, one
issued in Mumbai and the other in Patna.
The court is also likely to decide on June 17 the
application filed by ED seeking permission to question Khan
for three days in the money-laundering case.
PTI
