The Hindu : New Delhi News : SDM staff arrested for forgery

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

SDM staff arrested for forgery

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 22. Three employees at the Rampura Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) office in North-West Delhi were recently arrested on charges of complicity in the fraudulent recruitment of people to the Army and para-military forces on forged domicile certificates and other documents. Four persons allegedly running the racket were earlier arrested this June.

The racket was allegedly being run by Vijay, a tout operating at the Rampura Deputy Commissioner office in North-West Delhi. Vijay had learnt the tricks of the trade from his relative, Jitender, one of the main accomplices of the former Army Medical Corps Naik, Ram Sewak, who was arrested in October last for allegedly running a similar but a much bigger racket. Since Jitender specialised in getting papers forged allegedly in connivance with the staff of many SDM offices, Vijay followed his footsteps and roped in the staff of Rampura SDM office for the same purpose.

Vijay and his accomplices, Rattan Singh, Shakti and Sanjay Dabas, were arrested when they were busy supplying forged documents to applicants at the Independent Recruitment office of Gopinath Bazar in Delhi Cantonment, where direct recruitments of Tradesman for the Technical Trade, the Medical Corps and Ground Duty Staff are done every month. It came to light that within three days, the accused had supplied over 100 forged documents to the applicants.

Vijay disclosed that he used to get domicile/caste certificates and other documents forged with the help of three staffers of the Rampura SDM office against payment of Rs. 3,000 per favour. He also revealed that through them he would procure secret forms sent by the Army for verification of the candidates' antecedents and after forging the same, he would send the forms to recruitment authorities authenticating the genuineness of the candidates.

During investigations, the police zeroed in on two bailiffs -- Hem Chand and Bharat -- who were entrusted with the task of checking the antecedents of candidates whose papers were sent to the SDM office for verification. After the racket was smashed, the duo vanished from the scene but were recently traced and arrested. About two days ago, the third accused and a clerk in the Rampura SDM office, Sanjay Dhankar, also surrendered in a Delhi court after which the police secured his remand for interrogation.

Investigations revealed that Sanjay used to get all the forged documents signed by the SDM through fraudulent methods. At his instance, over 40 files pertaining to people applying in the Army and para-military forces have been seized. In an earlier operation, the police had seized over 30 such files from the SDM office. They suspect that all these files have been prepared on the basis of fictitious addresses and particulars of candidates. While their verification is on, Sanjay Dhankar was today produced in a Patiala court and sent to judicial custody. Meanwhile, the police are trying to establish the identity of others involved in the racket, which, they believe, has had serious ramifications on national security matters.

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