Marriage problems: Goa puts Manyata on notice

LEGAL TROUBLE: Manyata had shown herself as a resident of South Goa for six months.

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New Delhi: Sanjay Dutt's newly-married wife Manyata faced fresh trouble on Monday after the authorities in Goa issued a show-cause notice to her, asking why her residence certificate should not be cancelled.

Margao mamlatdar (senior government officer) Paresh Faldesai, in his notice, has given the starlet time till Tuesday to submit her clarification.

Faldesai said, "I have issued show cause notice to her asking her to reply within one day. The notice is been issued to her Malgaon address from where she has obtained the certificate".

"It has come to the notice that you have not been residing at the given address. Show cause why your residence certificate should not be cancelled," the notice, sent to Manyata's Goa address through circle inspector, reads.

The controversy over the certificate had put a question mark on the issue of Manyata's legal union with Dutt. "We have given her the opportunity to clarify. If she fails to reply, then her residence certificate will be cancelled," PTI quoted a district administration official as saying.

The authorities have already informed the sub-registrar about the suspension of the residence certificate based on which the marriage formalities of Manyata and Dutt have been kept on hold.

Officials said that Manyata has to provide any valid proof that she has been staying at the shown Goa address. "It's upto her what proof she brings," they said.

The sub-registrar's office in Goa, where Manyata and Sanjay had registered their marriage, had earlier questioned the authenticity of Manyata's documents and put the marriage on hold, saying "it cannot go ahead till the law department clears it."

For the purpose of registration of marriage, Manyata had submitted a certificate, which showed her as a resident of South Goa for six months. But the local officer later claimed he never signed the papers and that his signature on the certificate was forged.

South Goa collector G P Naik had sent the papers to the Law Department for scrutiny after Goan journalist Joquim Gracias filed a complaint, raising objections over the marriage, saying that the couple had used forged documents to register their marriage in Goa.

On Saturday, Manyata got entangled in another case after a man, named Mehraj Shaikh, went to court claiming he to be his wife. The Mumbai family court has admitted the petition and asked Mumbai police to probe the matter. The court will hear the matter on February 20.

In his petition, Mehraj challenged Manyata's marriage with Sanjay Dutt, claiming that he (Shaikh) had married her in 2003 and had not been formally divorced from her.

The petitioner also claims that he has a two-and a half-year-old son from that marriage and the kid is currently staying with Manyata's mother in Hyderabad.

He alleged that the newly-weds violated Muslim marriage norms. Shaikh says though he and Manyata have been living separately, neither of them have sought talak or divorce.

(With inputs from PTI)