VIJAYAWADA: Gannavaram police booked a case of cheating and forgery against a person who submitted a fake birth certificate of a girl to claim Rs 10 lakh financial aid, announced by the State government to children whose parents died of Covid-19, According to Gannavaram CI Komakula Shivaji, accused Eeswara Rao hails from Ungutur mandal. He allegedly claimed the Rs 10 lakh from the Krishna Collector by submitting a fake birth certificate of Pavani Lakshmi Priyanka.
During the verification, the officials of the Collectorate noticed Eeswara Rao’s subterfuge and called for a ground level inquiry on the applicant.The officials were taken aback when they came to know that Eeswara Rao is the girl’s original father. Rao gave Pavani as an ‘adopted’ daughter to his sister Patnala Bhagya Lakshmi as she could not bear a child.
Husband of Bhagya Lakshmi Patnala Mohan Kumar used to work as a gold appraiser in Ungutur branch of Canara Bank and the couple died of coronavrius recently. After Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced Rs 10 lakh financial aid to the children who became orphans due to Covid-19, Rao decided to apply on behalf of Pavani.
“As the adoption of Pavani to Mohan Kumar and Bhagya Lakshmi was not registered, there are no legal documents support that the girl is their heir. So Rao created a fake birth certificate and applied for the financial aid,” he said.When the Ungutur MRO D Vanajakshi found his application to be suspicious, she conducted a ground level inquiry and found the birth certificate to be a fake. “Based on her complaint, we have booked a case against the accused and taken Eeswara Rao into custody,” the CI said.