The Court made the following order:

RAVI CHEEMALAPATI, J.

Assailing the action of respondent No.5 in continuing to retain and withhold the petitioner's Passport bearing No.Z4997154 on the ground of the pendency of Crime No.71 of 2026 of Gudivada I Town Police Station, Krishna District, the present Writ Petition has been filed.

2. The case of the petitioner is that he is an Indian citizen by birth. He is the holder of a valid Indian Passport. Crime No.71 of 2026 was registered by Gudivada I Town Police Station, Krishna District, for the alleged offences under Sections 3 and 4 of the Andhra Pradesh Gaming Act. The prosecution alleges that certain accused persons were found participating in online cricket betting through various online betting platforms. During the course of investigation, the police allegedly traced the operation and management of an online betting platform known as "Southbook.in", wherein the petitioner was arrayed as Accused No.1 on the ground that he is the sole Director of M/s. Gridcsp IP Services (OPC) Private Limited and that the investigating agency allegedly found links between the infrastructure used by Southbook.in and that the software components associated with the petitioner's company. The prosecution further alleges that the petitioner facilitated payment processing and provided technical support for the operation of the online betting platform.

(ii) It is the further case of the petitioner that respondent No.5 arrested him and seized one ‘OnePlus Smartphone’ bearing Model No.CPH2649, one Apple Mac Book Pro M2, and also retained his passport. The petitioner was produced before the learned Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Gudivada, who remanded him to judicial custody. Thereafter, the petitioner filed an application for regular bail in Crl.M.P No.3127 of 2026, which was allowed by order dated 05.06.2026, subject to certain conditions. While granting bail, the learned Magistrate neither imposed any condition restricting his travel abroad nor permitted respondent No.5 to retain his passport. However, respondent No.5 has continued to retain the passport, thereby imposing an unauthorized restriction upon the petitioner's right to possess and use his passport, despite the Court consciously refraining from imposing any such restriction. Questioning the said action, the present Writ Petition has been filed.

3. Heard Sri Pavan Bandla, learned counsel representing Sri Kilaru Nithin Krishna, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri W.V.B. Shravan, learned Central Government Counsel appearing for respondent Nos.1 and 2 and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Home appearing for respondent Nos.3 to 5.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner, in elaboration to what has been stated in the affidavit filed in support of the Writ Petition, contended that the petitioner was arrested in Crime No.71 of 2026 as Accused No.1 and was subsequently released on bail, however, the learned Magistrate did not impose any condition restricting his travel or authorize the police to retain his passport. He further submitted that respondent No.5, without any authority of law and contrary to the settled legal principles, has illegally retained the petitioner's passport. Hence, prayed to pass appropriate orders protecting the interest of the petitioner.

5. On the other hand, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Home submitted that the passport was seized from the possession of the petitioner along with other material objects under a mediators' report and was produced before the learned Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Gudivada, along with the remand report. He further submitted that the passport is presently in the custody of the concerned Court. If the petitioner is aggrieved by its retention, he has to approach the concerned criminal Court by filing an appropriate application. He further submitted that the Writ Petition is devoid of merits and prayed to dismiss the Writ Petition.

6. Perused the material av