Pune: Officials of the Civil Aviation Gliding Centre at Hadapsar had never imagined even in their dreams that a couple working as a daily wage gardener at Gliding Centre will forge their signatures to claim the government-owned bungalow inside the centre in the court.
The fraud which took place from May 2009 to January 2011 was finally reported to Hadapsar police on Thursday.
The accused couple, identified as Uttam Khandagle (50) and Sunita Khandagale (45) both residents of Baital Baba locality of Hadapsar, used to work as daily wage gardeners in Gliding C.
Both had access to the offices inside the centre. They took advantage of that in order to prepare a letter stating that a bungalow inside the centre is owned by them. The couple forged the signature of the flying instructor (glider) Capt Shailesh Charbhe and Administrative Officer Arindham Dey and prepared the letter with the official stamp of the authorities.
After preparing the forged document, the couple filed a case in labour court against the Gliding Centre authorities stating that the authorities are not letting them occupy their bungalow inside the centre and have also thrown them out of their job as gardeners at the centre.
It is significant to note that the Gliding Centre authorities were not even aware of the fraud unless they received a notice from the labour court.
MP Bhange, Police Sub-Inspector, Hadapsar police station, said, “Both husband and wife are fraudsters and tried to acquire the government bungalow by producing forged papers in the labour court. Gliding Centre authorities also filed a case against the couple in 2011 and were fighting it in court, a police investigation was also carried then but now they have reported the matter to the police.
The couple has not only wrongfully claimed the government property using the forged documents, but has also misguided the court. We have started an investigation and we will arrest them soon.”
The couple, who is still at large, has been booked under sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.
