The Supreme Court, on Monday, has allowed podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia to retrieve his passport for work-related travel abroad. This decision emerged during a hearing with Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh after the Assam and Maharashtra governments confirmed that the investigation into Allahbadia was complete
His lawyer, Abhinav Chandrachud, requested to argue that multiple FIRs against his client should be consolidated, noting that while the Assam FIR might be more comprehensive, all stem from the same incident. The bench agreed to consider this request during the next hearing and directed Allahbadia to approach the Maharashtra Cyber Crime Bureau to retrieve his passport.
The bench stated, “the passport is ordered to be returned to enable him to travel abroad,” highlighting reasonable terms for the return. In February, the Supreme Court had previously protected Allahbadia from arrest over multiple FIRs related to comments made during his YouTube show, and on March 3 allowed him to resume his podcast, “The Ranveer Show,” provided he maintained appropriate content standards. Allahbadia faces scrutiny for remarks made regarding parents and sex on comedian Samay Raina’s YouTube show, alongside other named individuals in the case from Assam.
