Kasaragod: A debt-ridden construction worker trying to fly to Dubai has twice been stopped at airports and had his passport impounded- first after Kerala Police confused him with another man of the same name, and then because the Regional Passport Office in Kozhikode failed to correct the mistake even after a police report cleared him.

Kolathingal Sreenivasan (52), a native of Arayi in Kasaragod's Kanhangad, said he has spent nearly ₹60,000 on cancelled air tickets and futile trips between Mumbai, Kozhikode and Kannur. He is desperate to reach Dubai before his visa expires on March 7. At home, a wife, two school-going children and an aged mother depend on him. But before he can repay a single rupee of his debt, he finds himself battling bureaucratic apathy.

Nearly nine years ago, in 2017, Sreenivasan renewed his passport. Soon after, an officer from Hosdurg police station in Kanhangad turned up at his house asking about a criminal case against one T Sreenivasan, a tile mason who lives about a kilometre away. "The officer might have got confused because we share a name, and so do our fathers. His father's name is also Kunhikannan. But it was clear we were two different people," he said. "His family name is Tharambil, and mine is Kolathingal."

Hosdurg police nonetheless sent a report flagging Kolathingal Sreenivasan's passport. By then, he had travelled to Ajman in the UAE for work. During his absence, the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Kozhikode reportedly sent two show-cause notices to his home. With no one to respond, the file appears to have hardened into a red flag in the system.

Nearly three years later, Sreenivasan returned home. He worked in Kanhangad for more than five years, but his debt started mounting. This January, he decided to go to Dubai to clear his debt. He bought a ticket to Dubai from Mumbai for January 15 this year, spending about ₹27,000.

At the Mumbai airport, just before departure, officials of the Bureau of Immigration impounded his passport "on the instructions from the issuing authority". He was told it would be sent to the Kozhikode Regional Passport Office (RPO).

Two days later, he reached Kozhikode, where officials handed him a case number, saying a criminal case was pending against him. "I took the case number and went to the Hosdurg court. There I found the case was against the same old T Sreenivasan," he said.

He returned to the Kozhikode RPO with the court details. The passport officials told him they would write to Hosdurg police for a report. Within a week, Hosdurg police called him.

"They realised the mistake and sent a report clearing my name," said Sreenivasan. Soon after, the passport office returned his passport. No apology. No compensation.

Taking that as closure, Sreenivasan booked another ticket, this time from Kannur airport on February 22, spending ₹20,000 more.

As he prepared to board, he was stopped, and the Chief Immigration Officer impounded his passport again. He was told that his passport was still flagged by the Kozhikode Regional Passport Office. "I told them the case was against another Sreenivasan. But they said they can only act as per the directions of the passport office," he said. He returned home to Kanhangad, defeated.

Hosdurg police said they had cleared Kolathingal Sreenivasan and sent the report accordingly, which was why his passport was returned the first time. The information, they insist, should have been updated in the passport office's system. But it was not.

On Wednesday, February 25, Sreenivasan received a call from the Kozhikode RPO saying his passport had reached there from Kannur airport, and asking if it could be couriered to him. "I said no. I want a letter from the passport office stating that my name is cleared. And I want them to correct the mistake in their system too," he said. "I am going there tomorrow," he said on Wednesday.

Repeated calls to Regional Passport Officer Arunmohan K and Assistant Passport Officer S Sethukumar went unanswered.

The other man at the centre of the confusion, Tharambil Sreenivasan, told him that the original case was a property dispute over boundary demarcation, a matter settled years ago.