ERODE: Police have arrested three members of a gang of four who allegedly prepared fake G.O. letters approving screening of short social awareness videos in schools, and made money by asking the institutes to collect Rs 10 per student and hand it over to them.
The fake letters, prepared in the name of the collector, had the seal of the PRO office on them, police said, adding that the fraud came to light after one of the registered letters came back to the PRO office.
The accused were identified as G Prasannaraj (45) of Tiruchengode, D Govindharaj (44) and S Karthikeyan (44) of Sankagiri. They were arrested on Saturday. The fourth accused, D Sathyanarayanan of Sankagiri, is absconding.
“The letter was prepared in the name of the collector and addressed to the school education department officials and all the school principals in the district. In the letter, a social awareness short film, ‘Kuzhandhaigal Uzhagam’, was ordered to be screened in schools at a discounted price. It also had the seal of the office of the PRO on it.
But the PRO confirmed that it was fake, and filed a complaint,” sources said. Police added, “On February 26, a registered post sent from the district PRO office address to a private school was returned. PRO Sukumar was shocked when he opened the post, as it had a fake order.”
An officer said, “The gang used the fake letters to screen films in six schools. They have been doing this for the past one month. They had permission until 2022 for the screening, but after that the scheme was withdrawn.”