Pune: Bund Garden police have registered a case against a man for allegedly preparing a fake gram panchayat residence certificate and using forged documents to obtain a ration card and a caste certificate, through which he allegedly availed benefits meant for government employees and welfare schemes.
The suspect has been identified as Dnyaneshwar Baban Shelke, a resident of Mahalunge in Mulshi taluka. A complaint in the matter was filed by Sai Bhore-Patil, Deputy Superintendent of Police with the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee.
According to the police, the matter came to light after Sarpanch of Koltawade Gram Panchayat in Ambegaon taluka, Vitthal Maruti Shelke, submitted a complaint alleging that Dnyaneshwar Shelke was not a resident of Koltawade. The complaint alleged that he had used documents belonging to members of Vitthal Shelke's family to obtain a fraudulent caste certificate and validity certificate and subsequently benefit from government employment.
During the inquiry, officials allegedly found that Shelke had prepared a forged 8-A land record extract pertaining to Koltawade and used fake seals to create residence certificates. These documents were allegedly used to obtain a ration card and caste certificate.
Police said Shelke used school and revenue records belonging to members of Vitthal Shelke's family to obtain a Scheduled Tribe caste validity certificate on March 5, 2016.
The committee subsequently declared his Scheduled Tribe claim invalid and ordered the cancellation and seizure of the certificate.
The police complaint also alleges that Shelke prepared a residence certificate bearing the photograph of his wife, Surekha Dnyandev Shelke, along with a purported circular seal of Koltawade Gram Panchayat and forged signatures and seals of the sarpanch and gram sevak dated July 12, 2016. Despite allegedly knowing that the documents were fake, he is suspected of presenting them to government authorities as genuine and using them to obtain benefits in government service.
