AHMEDABAD: Gujarat’s Valsad Cyber Crime Police arrested a 30-year-old Ahmedabad-based accused for allegedly creating fake email IDs, forged official letterheads and fabricated signatures in the name of Valsad Lok Sabha MP Dhaval Patel to cheat institutions and secure personal benefits.
The arrest has exposed what police suspect to be a sophisticated forgery racket in which the accused allegedly impersonated elected representatives and senior police officers to influence government agencies, banks and the Railways through fake official correspondence.
Police officials said the investigation has uncovered a highly organised pattern of digital impersonation involving faking official identities.
"The accused created fake email IDs, forged official letterheads and fabricated signatures of Members of Parliament and senior police officers to obtain undue benefits, including railway ticket confirmations and recommendation-based communications with banks. Several forged documents, multiple fake email accounts and the electronic devices used in the crime have been seized. The accused is under sustained interrogation, and further investigation is underway to identify the full extent of the racket and any possible accomplices," police said.
The case surfaced after a forged recommendation letter bearing the name, designation, signature and fabricated official letterhead of Valsad MP Patel was allegedly sent to State Bank of India Chairman. Investigators said the forged communication was intended to mislead the country's largest public sector bank and obtain undue advantage through fraudulent means.
Following the discovery of the forged document, Patel's Personal Assistant Ravikumar lodged a complaint with the Valsad Cyber Crime Police.
Acting swiftly, police registered an FIR under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act before launching an investigation.
The cyber investigation team traced the digital trail through technical intelligence and social profile analysis, eventually locating the source of the fake email operations in Ahmedabad's Ishanpur area.
Upon receiving the information, a police team rushed to the location and arrested the accused, identified as Pratik De, a native of West Bengal.
During the search, investigators seized a Samsung mobile phone allegedly used in the crime. Police said the device contained the fake email account along with login credentials for seven additional email IDs allegedly created in the names of other senior public officials.
The search also yielded a large cache of forged documents and digital evidence.
Police recovered a fake official letterhead of MP Dhaval Patel, seven forged letterheads of MP Purushottam Rupala, 15 documents carrying forged signatures of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) from West Bengal Police, and an HP laptop allegedly used to design and generate the fabricated documents.
The investigation further revealed that the accused allegedly used the forged letterheads to obtain confirmed railway tickets through the Railways' special quota system.
Police also suspect that he used fabricated recommendation letters to approach the SBI headquarters for personal gains, indicating that the fraud extended far beyond a single forged communication.
Investigators are examining whether similar forged documents were circulated in other states and whether additional individuals were involved in the operation. The Cyber Crime Police are also scrutinising the recovered digital devices to identify more fake identities, beneficiaries and possible financial transactions linked to the racket.
Police have booked De under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(2), 336(3), 336(4) and 340(2) of the BNS, along with Sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the Information Technology Act relating to identity theft and cheating by personation using computer resources.
