The police have registered a case against a private licensed surveyor at the Deputy Superintendent Land Records office in Dahanu for allegedly cheating the government by altering a cheque originally written for Rs 1,08,800, changing it to Rs 11,08,800, and depositing it into his own account to secure the higher amount.
According to the police, the complainant in the case is PL Sankhe, Deputy Superintendent of Land Records in Dahanu. This office is responsible for conducting land survey work in Dahanu taluka. For the past two years, private licensed surveyors have been appointed to measure forest tracts on behalf of the office, and these surveyors are paid for their services by cheque.
Alterations made to original cheque
The complaint indicates that there are a total of 17 private licensed surveyors for forest belt enumeration at the Deputy Superintendent Land Records office in Dahanu, and they are compensated for their work via cheque. One of the surveyors employed at this office is P D Pahune, who has been working there for the past year.
Pahune had submitted an invoice for Rs 1,08,800 for the work he completed. Consequently, on July 21, a cheque in the same amount was issued. On August 22, the complainant received a message on his mobile phone stating that Rs 11,08,800 had been deducted from the department's bank account, as per the police.
Since the cheque for Rs 11,08,800 was not issued by the complainant's office, he went to the bank to inquire. The bank informed him that Pahune had withdrawn Rs 11,08,800 from the department's account using his cheque. At that time, the photocopy of the check deposited with the bank was shown to the complainant.
It was then revealed that Pahune had made alterations to the original cheque by adding a "1" before the Rs 1,08,800 amount, changing it to Rs 11,08,800. He had also made alterations to the alphabets. Sankhe then approached the police and had an offense registered in the matter.
The police have registered a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.
