A 25 year-old man is cooling his heels behind the bars of Vellore Central Prison for Men after his bid to revoke his friend’s suspension order by claiming to be a special secretary of the Chief Minister, boomeranged on him on Thursday.
D Rajesh accosted officials of the Survey and Land Records Department on the premises of the Collectorate around 6 pm on Thursday stating that he was the special secretary to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. He demanded that officials hand over the service record of Pandian, a surveyor of the department, who had been placed under suspension in 2011 after he was caught red-handed by DVAC for accepting a bribe.
Rajesh stated that the CM wanted to see the service record of Pandian, and he was there to collect it as per her direction. Growing suspicious over his statements, assistant director (AD) of the department Govindaraj requested him to show his identity card.
Rajesh, without hesitation, showed him an ID card and also produced a photocopy of CM’s official letterhead, in which it was written that the suspension of Pandian be revoked immediately, said inspector E Thirunavukarasu of Sathuvachari Station.
While he was demanding the file and seeking an explanation from the AD, an official of the department alerted police. The police reached the Collectorate and picked him for inquiry.
On interrogation, Rajesh said that he was a native of Punga Nagar in Vallalar. He completed diploma in mechanical engineering and was looking for a job. He disclosed that Pandian was his friend and he wanted to help him to revoke his suspension.
“Rajesh downloaded the format of the letterhead from a website and created a forged ID to cheat officials of the Survey and Land Records Department,” said the inspector.
Based on his confession, police registered a case against him under sections 420, 461,465 and 468 of IPC for cheating and forging documents with an intention to cheat government officials. Furthermore, the police also confiscated a computer and printer from an Internet cafe in Vallalar where he created the duplicate ID and letterhead.