The Government Railway Police (GRP) at Mumbai Central have arrested a senior sports officer of Western Railway (WR) in connection with the appointments of two employees under the sports quota. Both the players received fake appointment letters. The fraud was busted on the first day of the appointment.
The accused WR officer, Ajay Apate, has been booked for cheating and forgery. Deputy Commissioner of Police, GRP, Pradeep Chavhan confirmed his arrest.
Two players, who allegedly received forged appointment letters, are kabbadi player Ankit Chandela, 23, and a tennis player, Vivek U. Both received appointment letters for the post of commercial-cum-ticket clerks under the sports quota.
According to officials, the deputy chief ticket inspector at Churchgate, Prashant Pisharody, got suspicious after finding names of Chandela and Vivek on his register as no documents were kept at his office. He contacted the kabbadi coach, who told him that he had not approved any appointment for Chandela. Pisharody received the same reply in the case of Vivek, following which he alerted senior officials.
According to the FIR, WR published an advertisement in October 2019 for 21 vacancies of commercial-cum-ticket clerk under the sports quota; two of them were reserved for kabaddi players. Chandela applied online and later submitted his documents before the selection committee at the sports ground in Mahalaxmi EMU workshop. However, his name was not there in the list of selected candidates.
In March this year, he received an appointment letter signed by the assistant PA at DRM office at Mumbai Central who handles recruitments. During the investigation, it was revealed that the officer never approved their appointments and the letter was forged.
The FIR also mentioned that Apte took Chandela to Churchgate railway station on July 9 and helped him register his name in the muster. There is no mention of any monetary transactions between Chandela and Apte, said an officer.
