BENGALURU: In a shocker, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s office passed a letter that was forged. This incident unfortunately exposes the major security lapse at the Chief Minister’s Office as Yediyurappa “unwittingly” signed the forged letter of transfer on September 8.
A second division assistant of Chikkaballapur zilla panchayat, Chandrakanth B K, has been accused of forging the signature of Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath to seek a transfer to Bengaluru. Vishwanth is also the political secretary of Yediyurappa.
The letter sought Chandrakanth’s transfer to Bengaluru Urban zilla panchayat office, a lucrative posting. It stated that Chandrakanth had to relocate to Bengaluru to look after his aged parents and therefore the transfer is being sanctioned.
It was only after a month that Vishwanath realised during scrutiny that his official letterhead had been stolen and his signature forged. Vishwanath filed a case with the Vidhana Soudha police on Thursday.
The incident sent shock waves among bureaucrats. A visibly angry Vishwanath said, “They forged my signature. They could forge the chief minister’s signature too in the future. What is going to stop them?”
“Whatever letters are sent from my office, I go through them. This one gave me the shudders when I realised that someone had stolen my official letterhead and forged my signature. The man even managed to get it cleared from the chief minister.”
The Department of Personnel and Administrative Services (DPAR) had even okayed the file and was in the process of making the transfer order.
Vishwanath added, “I have alerted the DPAR and asked them to stop processing this file.’’
The police is expected to pick up Chandrakanth for questioning because he is the beneficiary of this letter.