Palamu police probe forgery of residential certificate for electoral roll revision
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK Daltonganj, October 14: Hariharganj police have launched an investigation into the alleged issuance of a forged permanent residential…
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, October 14: Hariharganj police have launched an investigation into the alleged issuance of a forged permanent residential certificate by a customer service point (CSP) operator for use in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Hariharganj Circle Officer M. K. Sinha, 56, lodged an FIR against CSP operator Abdul Salam on October 10, Hariharganj police station officer-in-charge Deobrat Poddar said on Tuesday.
According to police, Salam allegedly provided a digital copy of a permanent residential certificate in the name of Vidyawati Devi, 45, for submission during the SIR process. Scrutiny and verification at the SIR camp subsequently revealed that the document was allegedly fake and forged.
Vidyawati Devi, a resident of Akouni village, first brought the alleged fraud to the Circle Officer’s attention through a written complaint, police said.
Paritosh Priyadarshi, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer-cum-Block Development Officer of Hariharganj, said the SIR hearing team was also pursuing the matter.
“There is a lengthy procedure for obtaining a permanent residential certificate. In this case, it appears that the accused CSP operator tampered with the government officer’s digital signature and altered the sanctioned certificate number and date,” Priyadarshi said.
Certificate Allegedly Issued Within Two Days
According to sources, obtaining a permanent residential certificate generally takes between 10 and 21 days, depending on whether the application is processed under the urgent or regular procedure.
However, Vidyawati Devi reportedly claimed that she received the digital copy of the certificate within a day or two, raising further questions about its authenticity and the process through which it was issued.
FIR Registered Under Forgery Provisions
Police have registered a case against Salam under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to forgery, cheating, forged electronic records and the use of forged documents as genuine, along with Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, Poddar said.
The accused has gone underground, police said. Further investigation is under way to establish the circumstances surrounding the alleged forgery.
