Former Telegraph editor’s passport finally renewed after reverification

The initial police verification had resulted in an adverse report over the SIR deletion, holding up the issuance of the passport for over 100 days

The passport of former Telegraph editor R Rajagopal, whose name was deleted from the West Bengal voters’ list during this year’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has been renewed after a second police verification, a senior official aware of the matter said on Thursday.

Rajagopal’s experience is not an isolated one in Kolkata. A senior police officer said that they have come across at least 17 cases in which an adverse police report was given as the person’s name was not there in the SIR.

The initial police verification had resulted in an adverse report over the SIR deletion, holding up the issuance of the passport for over 100 days, according to a post by Rajagopal, a Thiruvanathapuram-born, Kolkata resident, last week. Kerala chief minister VD Satheesan on Monday had written to West Bengal chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari urging him to intervene in the alleged delay.

“Rajagopal’s case has been resolved. The police sent a second report clearing his name. His passport is likely to be delivered to him by Saturday,” said the senior official.

Another person familiar with the matter said that Rajagopal was contacted about reinitiating the reverification on Monday. The passport has been printed but not delivered yet, this person said.

Rajagopal’s experience is not an isolated one in Kolkata.

All these cases were of the passport renewal of a person residing at the same address given in the original passport, as in the case of Rajagopal. The police officer said this was a procedural issue which is taking place at an individual officer level and added that they were looking into all these cases.

Around nine million names of voters were dropped from the electoral roll during the SIR in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections. While more than 6.3 million names were dropped from the electoral roll in the final list, the fate of another 2.7 million now hangs in a balance as their cases are pending in the Supreme Court-mandated appellate tribunals.