Passport seized, 'cheat' Shoaib Malik can't leave India

A Pakistan-based lawyer hired by Ayesha Siddiqui, the Indian girl claiming to be Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik's wife, will file a case against the cricketer, accused of dumping her without a formal divorce.

Farooq Hassan said that Ayesha's father Mohammed Siddiqui had contacted him from India and asked him to file a case against Shoaib.

According to reports, Ayesha's family had sent a legal notice to Shoaib, but Hassan said that he was not aware of this.

"I don't know anything about this, but all I can say is in next few days I will be deciding on what to do in Ayesha's case," The Daily Times quoted Hassan, as saying.

The Siddiquis claim that Malik married their daughter Ayesha in 2002, but has not divorced her till date.

The Hyderabad based family had also produced pictures of Shoaib-Ayesha's Nikahnama (marriage certificate) that states that their marriage was solemnised on June 3, 2002.

Malik, on the other hand, has denied being married to Ayesha. He, however, admitted to talking to a girl named Ayesha over the telephone, but said he has never seen or met the girl. He has also reportedly alleged that the nikahnama was forged. Police have told him that if he continues to deny links with Ayesha, he might be arrested.

Ayesha also accused Malik, a former Paksitani skipper, of trying to buy her silence for $1 million, muddying the waters ahead of the April 15 marriage of Sania and Shoaib.

After a marathon investigation that lasted for two hours, the police seized Shoaib Malik's passport and mobile phone. Sources said that the police are likely to investigate his mobile phone logs.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner A.K. Khan said Shoaib would not be allowed to leave India without police permission.

"We have alerted all immigration gateways not to allow Shoaib to leave," he said.

ACP Ravikanth Reddy arrived at Mirza's residence, on Monday morning amidst media glare, however, it is unclear whether Sania is being quizzed too.

Meanwhile, police also arrived at Ayesha's residence in the city to record hers and her family's statement. The police are likely to take enough evidence from Ayesha. Sources said that the police are likely to go though Ayesha's phone logs who earlier told a television channel that she hated Shoaib with passion and said she was determined to see him punished for cheating her.

Shoaib has now accused Ayesha of posing as Maha Apa, her elder sister, whose photographs were sent to him and fooled him for five years. Shoaib said neither he or his brother-in-law could never meet Ayesha during their visits to Hyderabad.

Shoaib claimed that Ayesha had starting making phone calls to him in 2001 when he was in Sharjah with the Pakistani team.

"Naturally I wanted to meet her. Every time I brought up the topic of meeting, she would send me a bunch of photographs," the statement said.

The cricketer claimed that he was made to believe that he was speaking to the girl in the photograph. "The truth is that I have, to this day, not met the girl in the photograph," he said.

Shoaib said in 2002, Ayesha forced him into marriage over telephone saying people in Hyderabad had started talking about their relationship and this had put her parents in an embarrassing position.

"We accidentally ran into the truth about who Ayesha was," he said.

"It happened in August 2005. My brother-in-law got a photograph of a teacher in Saudi Arabia who was telling people around her that Shoaib was married to her. I was aghast when he showed me the photograph of the teacher. The woman in the photograph was the woman I called Maha Apa."

Earlier on Sunday, Shoaib said that his wedding to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza would take place as scheduled on April 15.