Police seek Leander Paes' passport details after former partner Rhea Pillai's complaint

Top Indian tennis seed Leander Paes, who recently won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Martina Hingis might not be allowed to leave the country after his former partner Rhea Pillai filed a complaint that he had made false representation of facts on his passport.

The Bandra police are after Leander Paes’ passport after the complaint was filed and want to know what the tennis player has written in the spouse’s name column. They have already got in touch with the Regional Passport Office (RPO) at Worli.

In the latest twist in the Paes-Pillai ongoing custody battle for their 8-year-old daughter, Pillai claims that Paes has mentioned her as his spouse in his passport issued in 2008. However, the tennis player filed a petition in May 2014 seeking custody of their child, stating in court that Pillai is not married to him.

According to DNA , Paes later reported that he had lost his passport when he was travelling abroad and in the fresh passport, her name isn’t mentioned in the spouse column. According to India’s Passport Act, 1967: if an applicant submits any false information or suppresses any information with a view to obtain passport or travel document, he can be imprisoned up to two years or fined up to Rs 5,000 or both.

According to the Times of India, his earlier passport was due to expire in February 2018. The complaint also claims that, “he has provided false documents and made false representations to the Ministry of External Affairs on more than one occasion to obtain his passport. He has also provided false information on oath to the US Consulate.”