Travel agents use forged letterheads of ministers
Travel agents used forged letterheads of Union ministers S. Jaipal Reddy, Anand Sharma and K.C. Venugopal and BSP MP Ambeth Rajan to get wait-listed rail tickets confirmed.
An FIR of cheating and forgery was lodged by the police on the basis of a complaint filed by the vigilance wing of Northern Railways.
The police said that vigilance wing was alerted by the divisional commercial manager in Lucknow. A special team of Northern Railway looking into the matter found seven such cases out of which five were found to be fake.
Three letters in the names of Mr Reddy, Mr Sharma and Mr Venugopal and two on BSP MP Ambeth Rajan’s name were found forged.
An investigation by the vigilance branch found that Mr Reddy never signs such letters himself and only his private secretary or additional private secretary do so.
“The letterhead on which the requisition was sent is fake as the address of the minister’s office has been written as Shastri Bhavan whereas his office is in Anusandhan Bhavan,” the official said.
Mr Sharma’s personal staff informed that he does not sign emergency quota letters.
The minister’s assistant informed that he never signs on the right hand side. He always signs on the left hand side.
Mr Venugopal’s letter was also forged. The tricksters forgot that the Kerala leader’s portfolio had changed in the last reshuffle.
“The letterhead was of MoS for power, while he is MoS for civil aviation now,” the official said.
The fourth request came in the name of MP Rajan who told the vigilance branch that he had not issued it.
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