Day after police promise swift resolution, ex-editor’s passport renewal process begins

2 min readKolkataUpdated: Jul 1, 2026 04:21 AM IST

R Rajagopal, former editor of The Telegraph

A day after the Kolkata Police promised a swift resolution, the passport renewal process of former editor of The Telegraph, R Rajagopal has been initiated, sources said, adding that the District Control Security Cell (DCSC), Kolkata, has submitted a positive verification report to the Regional Passport Office (RPO), clearing the hurdles that had stalled his application for months.

According to the official status of his application, “Police report has been submitted by the DCSC Office, and action for passport printing is initiated, to be followed by lamination, signing, quality check and dispatch.”

The senior journalist’s passport renewal had been stuck in limbo since April, following the deletion of his name from the electoral rolls in West Bengal during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list.

In a note on social media, Rajagopal had said that he missed his daughter’s wedding in the United States because he did not possess an active passport. “I think, in the first week of April, a police official called me from the Ballygunge police station and summoned me for police verification. He told me to carry my documents. When I asked which document, he told me, ‘Voter ID card.’ Then I told him, ‘But my name has been deleted from the electoral roll on March 27,’” Rajagopal had said.

Efforts to renew his passport since then have been unsuccessful, and he had received an appointment to appear before the RPO on July 17.

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