Court seeks police report on Sanjay-Manyata marriage

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By Indo-Asian News Service

A Mumbai court Wednesday afternoon directed the Mumbai police to submit by Feb 25 its report on inquiry into Meraj-ur-Rehman's claim that he is the first husband of Manyata, now wife of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt.Meraj, who is in police custody for sending obscene messages to Bollywood actresses, has in a written complaint to the Bandra metropolitan magistrate contended that Manyata's marriage to Sanjay Dutt Feb 11 was illegal, as he has not divorced her yet.


According to Meraj, he married Manyata in 2003 and has a son from her. The son is now in Dubai with
Manyata's relatives.

Meraj, who has been a struggling writer in the film industry, told the police he only wanted custody of his son and was ready to legally divorce Manyata.

This is not the only complication that the newly married Dutt couple is facing. Sanjay and Manyata first had a registered marriage in Goa and then a Hindu ritual marriage in Mumbai.

However, the Goa district administration last week ordered re-examination of the marriage registration papers. For a registered marriage in Goa, at least one person must be a Goa resident for a minimum six months.

When Goa authorities learnt that the domicile certificate Manyata submitted was false, they served a show-cause notice on her last week and asked her why this certificate should not be cancelled.

Manyata has sought a fortnight's time to file her reply to the notice.