HC orders return of Shoaib's passport

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday ordered the release of the passport of Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik in the wake of the city police seeking closure of a cheating case filed against him by his now divorced wife Ayesha Siddiqui.

This direction was given by Justice C V Nagarjuna to a Nampally Criminal Court after Advocate General D V Sitaram Murthy informed the High Court that the police had filed its final report before a magistrate for closure of the case against 28-year-old Malik.

The police had taken away the cricketer's passport on April 5 and submitted it to the Thirteenth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. They asked him not to leave the country after a cheating case was registered against him based on a complaint by Ayesha, whom he subsequently divorced after denying that he had married her.

After Shoaib divorced Ayesha, the Siddiqui's submitted an application to the Central Crime Station (CCS) -- a wing of Hyderabad police which investigated the case -- to withdraw the complaint.

Shoaib, who moved the High Court on April 15, had submitted in his petition that he had reached a compromise with Ayesha and she had already expressed her willingness to withdraw the case.

After ten days of high drama, Shoaib married Indian tennis star Sania Mirza here on April 12.