Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has today granted permission to a 28-years old Pakistani citizen Sajjad Vora, stuck in Surat since 2016 after he was arrested in a fake currency case, to travel back home.

Vora who hails from Karachi, was on visit to his relatives in Surat when he was caught by Surat Railway Police with 100 fake notes of Rs 500 denomination which were scrapped during the demonetisation in December 2016. Initially he claimed he was a Mumbai resident, but later confessed that he was a citizen of Pakistan. Vora was later acquitted by the court and later the government filed an appeal and the order again came in favour of Vora on July 15, 2019. Vora couldn’t return to his country as he needed ‘No Objection’ certificate from Surat police as his visa had already ended in 2017. Vora had applied for NOC from Surat police, but he was not allowed to go back.

Last month, a habeas corpus petition in Vora’s favour was filed by New Delhi based High Commission of Pakistan to get his custody. The High Court had during hearing expressed surprise that the state government could not file the SLP in Supreme Court even after passing one year to the judgment by the HC on Vora’s acquittal.