Jammu has booked four persons including a Sarpanch and two Revenue officials for allegedly producing fake certificate to contest ‘panchayat elections’ in Panchayat Halqa Bhajnow Nowhshera Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Spokesperson of Crime Branch Jammu said, “A Criminal case under the relevant sections of law stands registered against suspects Sarpanch Smt Santosh Kumari wife of Bidhi Chand (D/o Nand Lal); her husband Bidhi Chand of Village Bhajnova Tehsil Nowshera District Rajouri; Akbar Hussain the then Tehsildar Nowshera and Balvinder Kumar the then Patwari Nowshera for their involvement in obtaining and facilitating Scheduled Caste Category Certificate by fraudulent means and its use by the beneficiary as genuine during the Panchayat Election of Sarpanch in Panchayat Halqa Bhajnow Nowhshera Rajouri.”
“A written complaint was lodged by Joginder Singh son of Kasturi Lal of Bhajnowa with Crime Branch Jammu, alleging inter-alia that his wife Smt Sheetal Kour resident of village Bhajnowa had contested election as Sarpanch Candidate in a reserve category (SC) Constituency against a lady namely Santosh Kumari W/o Bidhi Chand R/o Bhajnowa who was having a false and forged SC category certificate on the basis of which she won the election as a Sarpanch, whereas she belong to Vashisht Rajput community as per the revenue record of her husband and her parents.”
Crime Branch spokesperson added that on receipt of this complaint, a preliminary verification was conducted and during the course of probe revenue records were obtained from the concerned authorities and it has been prima-facie established that the SC Certificate has been managed by the accused beneficiary in connivance with other co-accused persons viz Govt. officers/officials.”
“The omissions and commissions on the part of the accused are liable for the offenses punishable u/s 420 and etc under various sections of Law. ” Accordingly, a formal case is registered in P/S Crime Branch, Jammu against the above-mentioned accused persons and others for in-depth investigation, ” he added.(TOI)
