The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fake surety racket busted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 07, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Fake surety racket busted

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, NOV. 6. A racket in providing surety to criminals on the basis of fake documents has been unearthed by the North-East Delhi police. Seven persons have been arrested in this connection.

In the process of gathering information on the gang involved in providing fake sureties, the Special Staff of the North-East Delhi police managed to trace one of them, identified as Rakesh Kumar. A decoy was deployed to strike a deal with him. On Friday, Rakesh came to the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Seelampur, to hand over the fake documents to the decoy around 3 p.m. The waiting police team arrested Rakesh when he took money from the decoy and handed over the fake identity proof.

At Rakesh's instance, the police arrested his associates -- Suraj Bhan, Puran Singh, Lallu, Rajesh Kumar, Jagdish Prashad and Deena Nath -- and recovered fake ration cards, fake General Power of Attorney certificates, fake Kisan Vikas Patra, ink remover and thinner from them.

The police said Rakesh was the brain behind the racket. After the death of his father, when he was 17, he began going to Shahdara court. There, he came in contact with one Rajjo who was involved in providing fake sureties and learnt the tricks from him. In the past 16 years, Rakesh has stood surety for more than 400 people accused in cases like Excise Act, Arms Act, accident cases and cases pertaining to the preventive sections of the Criminal Procedure Code. He had earlier been arrested four times for allegedly providing fake surety.

Other members of the gang joined Rakesh at later stages. Puran came in contact with him as he lived in the same locality. Lallu had been providing fake surety on his own before joining hands with Rakesh. Deena Nath, a casual cleaner at Tis Hazari courts, was in touch with gangs involved in providing fake surety but began working for Rakesh after coming in his contact. Jagdish, a typist dismissed from Sena Bhavan after being convicted under the Official Secrets Act, had started working at Tis Hazari where he came in contact with the gang. Rajesh, a casual labourer, too came in contact with Rakesh and began working for him. Suraj Bhan joined the gang after he came in contact with Deena Nath.

While Suraj Bhan used to get Rs. 200 for one fake surety, Jagdish would get Rs. 20 for filling in the particulars of ration cards and Rs. 200 for making a fake GPA. Others took their share from the commission they used to get from the families of the accused for whom they stood surety in court. The gang would trace the family members of the accused arrested in bailable cases and charge 20 to 25 per cent of the total surety amount as commission for standing surety. They would then tamper with the documents and stand surety for people whom they never knew. Further investigations are now on to ascertain the involvement of court officials in the racket.

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