Mumbai: The Mumbai Police have issued a notice to Bollywood actor Imran Khan, an American national, directing him to leave India by October 28 for allegedly violating provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, officials said on Thursday.
The action follows the actor’s participation in an agitation at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan on October 10, where protesters demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Police had briefly detained Khan during the demonstration.
FRRO is the agency responsible for regulating the registration, movement, stay, departure, and visa extensions of foreign nationals. It operates under the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs. It operates in close coordination with and through the police infrastructure.
BJP leader Somaiya urged Mumbai Police to verify Khan’s citizenship and questioned whether a foreign national should be taking part in a political agitation.
The actor was born and educated in the US, but earned his livelihood in India while “participating in political and diplomatic activities opposing the government,” he said, according to news agency PTI.
“I had sought a report on how long Imran Khan had been a US citizen,” Somaiya said, adding that he was grateful to the authorities for taking action.
‘I am here as a citizen’
At the protests, Imran Khan said he was not present at the protests with any specific demands, but had come forward in his capacity as “a citizen”. He said he wanted to understand why freedom of movement was being restricted and why people’s voices were being suppressed.
“I don’t have demands. I am here as a citizen, as a person who lives in this city. I am here to see why freedom of movement is being restricted. Why are people’s voices being suppressed? That is why I am here,” the actor said in the video widely circulated on social media.
The actor, his girlfriend Lekha Washington, his mother mother Nusrat, and niece Zayn (Marie) were detained along with 400 people at during the protest, demanding the resignation of CEC Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Zayn later said in a video that she had been assaulted and manhandled by the police and showed her bruises that she suffered while she was detained.
