Sitabuldi Police book 17 parents for furnishing misleading details

Staff Reporter

While admission through the Right to Education (RTE) Act is a boon for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, some persons from well-off financial backgrounds are obtaining admission through RTE by using counterfeit documents. Sitabuldi Police have booked seventeen parents who allegedly secured school admissions for their children under Right to Education (RTE) by submitting counterfeit income certificates, caste certificates, and address proofs. The accused parents have been identified as Kamram Samas, Yash Arora, Suraj Ghodke, Mohd Sulim Ali Khan, Shahbad Pir, Salim Baig Ajim Baig, Manish Shahane, Sharad Devdhane, Rashid Amin, Shahbad Pir Khan, Tardev Pawar, Sheikh Javed, Shamshankar Pandey, Brijkumar Chaturvedi, Mohd Irshad, and Anup Kishore Ganatra.

The investigation initiated after the Education Department conducted a thorough scrutiny of documents submitted by parents during the RTE (Right to Education) admissions for the academic year 2023-24. Officials conducting the survey discovered discrepancies in the documents provided by these parents, including forged income certificates, caste certificates, and address proofs such as rent agreements. Following this revelation, the education department organised a hearing for the concerned parents to address the issue. Upon careful examination of the evidence, a formal complaint accompanied by an inquiry report was lodged with the Sitabuldi Police.

Ramesh Gangadhar Gharde, an official from the Education Department, filed the complaint which resulted into the Sitabuldi Police registering a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine), 465 (punishment for forgery), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Senior Police Inspector of Sitabuldi Police Station Asaram Chormale said that the investigation into this fraudulent activity is currently underway as the police are wokring to identify and arrest those responsible for manipulating the admissions process.