Navi Mumbai, May 6: Kharghar police has registered an offence against unidentified persons after uncovering a racket involving fake railway concession certificates meant for cancer patients, allegedly forged in the name of Tata Cancer Hospital and sold to ineligible passengers. The fraud surfaced at Panvel railway station when a suspicious certificate was detected and later verified as fake.
Fake concession certificates detected at Panvel station
The case came to light last month when a couple, Akash and his wife Nitu Devi, booked tickets on the Golden Temple Mail from Bandra Terminus to Ambala Cantt through an agent, who charged them extra.
Despite not being cancer patients, their tickets mentioned them as such, raising suspicion. Akash approached the ticket counter at Panvel railway station to verify the documents, where railway staff contacted Tata Hospital.
Medical Social Worker Anuradha Patil from Tata Cancer Hospital verified the certificates through the hospital’s system and found that the names and file numbers mentioned did not exist in their records.
The forged documents were near-identical replicas of the hospital’s official letterhead and also carried a fake signature of a staff member from the social service department.
Police suspect organised racket behind fraud
Police said the accused misused the concession facility meant for genuine cancer patients by fabricating certificates for individuals not registered with the hospital. An offence has been registered under Sections 318(4) and 336(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
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"We suspect the involvement of an organised gang engaged in producing and selling such forged certificates on a large scale. We are investigating further to identify those involved and assess the extent of the fraud, which has led to misuse of the hospital’s name and financial losses to the railway administration," a police officer said.
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