Patna, April 2: Investigations have revealed that several top industrialists and politicians helped stud firm owner Hasan Ali get his fake passport done in just seven days here in 1997.

The court of chief judicial magistrate Rama Kant Yadav today took cognisance of the case. At present, Ali is lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail in connection with a money laundering case worth crores.

Later, Yadav ordered to send the case documents to judicial magistrate Sunil Kumar for trial. It has also directed the issuance of a production warrant against Ali and the next date of hearing has been fixed on April 11.

Yesterday, the local Kotwali police station had submitted a chargesheet against Ali. The police said that they were investigating the alleged roles of former MP Sardar Iqbal Singh, at present Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry, Bhojpur-based Congress leader Amlendu Pandey, Delhi-based industrialist Kashi Nath Taporia and unknown others for helping Ali getting the passport. The Kotwali police had registered an FIR against Ali on December 19, 2010, on the basis of a written application by Patna regional passport officer Anand Kumar.

According to the FIR, Ali had applied for a passport on April 3, 1997, and got the same (number A1519660) on April 10 the same year. The police, during investigation, found that Ali’s passport had been received by one Ashok Kumar, the former bodyguard of Sardar Iqbal Singh.

On January 1 this year, Ali was remanded in Beur Central Jail. Ali was brought from Arthur Road Jail here on January 4 on the basis of a production warrant and the next day the police here interrogated Ali for three hours. During interrogation, Ali accepted that he had got the passport done from Patna on the basis of forged documents.