The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the passport authorities to consider the application filed by actor-producer Sachin Joshi—who now wishes to be known as Yogesh Jagdish Joshi—for a name change in his passport, despite the pendency of a criminal case against him.
A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri also ordered a fresh police verification to be conducted at Joshi’s residence on February 18. The verification report must be submitted within 15 days, after which the passport office will take an appropriate decision in accordance with the law.
The bench expressed curiosity about Joshi’s repeated name changes, asking whether he was influenced by numerology or astrology. “You’ve changed your name thrice already. We hope there won’t be any more cases with the new name,” Justice Ghuge remarked wryly.
It noted that Joshi was originally named Sachin Jagdishprasad Joshi, later changed it to Sachiin Jagdishprasad Joshi, and has now adopted Yogesh Jagdish Joshi. However, the court firmly refused to allow abbreviation of the father’s name from “Jagdish” to just “J.”, stating, “At least be thankful for your father. He brought you into this world.”
Joshi had approached the High Court through advocate Sujay Kantawala after his application for a passport name change was hindered due to a negative police verification report, which cited a pending cheating and criminal conspiracy case and alleged non-cooperation.
Kantawala submitted that Joshi had officially changed his name through publication in the Maharashtra Government Gazette.
The court observed that since the trial court had not yet taken cognizance of the criminal case, it could not be a ground for denying the name change. “A pending case without cognizance being taken cannot be ground for refusal for renewal or issuance of passport,” the bench held.
Joshi, known for roles in several Hindi and Telugu films, was arrested in 2021 by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to real estate firm Omkar Realtors and Developers. He was granted bail in 2022. His counsel clarified that apart from the current pending matter, all other criminal proceedings, including those under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, have been disposed of.
“This is the end of the petitioner’s insatiable desire to change his name,” the court said, directing that the name Yogesh Jagdish Joshi will now stand as final for official purposes.
