JUDGMENT

The petitioner, a Non-Resident Indian engaged in the business of trading timber in Africa, holds a Republic of India Passport bearing No. K8014157, valid from 08.03.2013 to 07.03.2023, issued by the Regional Passport Office, Kochi. Subsequently, a new passport bearing No. Z-3289467 was issued to him by the Consulate General of India, Dubai, on 13.10.2015, reportedly because the pages of the earlier passport were exhausted, and the said passport was valid up to 12.10.2025. The petitioner, on initiating the process of renewal as the validity period of the passport was nearing expiry, came to know that his earlier passport had been impounded by the 1^st respondent. The said action was taken pursuant to an investigation conducted by the officers under the 2^nd respondent in connection with an alleged incident of gold smuggling by one Shri. Edwin Andrew Minihan, an Irish citizen, who was intercepted at the Cochin International Airport on 13.07.2015, leading to the recovery of 10 kilograms of gold bars concealed in his pocket. During the course of the investigation, Shri. Minihan is stated to have deposed that the petitioner was the person who arranged the gold for smuggling, and