On a complaint by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the CBI has registered a case against a former Haryana bodybuilder and vice president of the Indian Body Builders Federation (IBBF) Amit Swami for cheating, tampering and forgery. Swami had allegedly tampered with an appreciation letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get a better position in various sports bodies.
Sources said that Swami had written to wish Modi on Diwali last year and in return got an appreciation letter but he tampered with it, inserting words that were not originally there. When the PMO got to know about it, the assistant director in the PMO PK Issar made a complaint to the CBI.
As per the case registered by the CBI here, a copy of which is with this newspaper, "A complaint was received from PK Issar, assistant director in the PMO, addressed to the joint director CBI regarding forgery and tampering in a letter dated November 28, 2018, issued by the Prime Minister on his office letterhead addressed to Amit Swami of Ram Bhavan, Kung Gali in Rewari, Haryana. The office copy of the original letter issued by the PMO was also enclosed with the said complaint."
The FIR further states that the verification revealed that a letter dated November 28, 2018 was issued by PM Narendra Modi to Amit Swami thanking the latter for his Diwali greetings. "Thank you for your wonderful Diwali greetings. I wish you the same and pray for your good health, wellbeing and prosperity. Your wishes are extremely special. I derive immense strength from them and it inspires me to work harder in service of our motherland. May this Diwali reaffirm the victory of good over evil and made the power of brightness prevail over darkness. Thank you once again for your greetings," said the letter.
"Verification further revealed that some new words had been inserted in the above mentioned original letter dated November 20, 2018. Comparison of the two letters revealed that one paragraph having the words, "As you inform me about the 10th World Body Building and Physique Sports Championship in the kingdom of Thailand under the dynamic force and vision of Daruk Paul Chua. I wish this
championship a grand success at the same time, I congratulate all the officials, athletics and your entire organising team" have been added. It can be seen that this paragraph was not in the original appreciation letter issued by the prime minister of India. Also in the designation and address portion, the following
words 'Renowned Body Building & Physique Sports Promoter' have been added thereby committing the offence of cheating and forgery,’’ it stated.
It further states, "Verification has further revealed that the 10th WBPF World Championship was held in Chiang Mai in Thailand from December 11 to 17, 2018 and the purported letter dated November 20 of the prime minister to Amit Swami has a mention regarding best wishes for the championship. It appears that
tampering has been made by Amit Swami in the original appreciation letter to use it in his correspondence with the world bodybuilding and physique sports federation, Asian bodybuilding federation, Indian bodybuilding and fitness federation or other sports bodybuilding federations with a view to get some favourable position in any of these bodies. Prima facie it appears that Swami has used the forged appreciation letter to get prominence and global recognition in the domain of bodybuilding.’’
It went on to add, "Thus by aforesaid acts, Swami has committed offences of cheating, forgery and using a forged document as genuine in conspiracy with unknown persons punishable under sections 120-B, 420, 468 and 471 of IPC." The Chandigarh Unit of CBI registered a case under sections 420, 467,468 and 120 of IPC against Swami who is absconding.