Delhi court orders framing of charges against man for forging ex-cabinet minister's letterhead

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has ordered framing of charges against a man for allegedly using forged letterhead of former Cabinet Minister Krishna Tirath to confirm his railway ticket.

Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain ordered that charges of forgery and cheating be framed against Rajesh Chamle, who was arrested in 2011 for allegedly using and forging letterhead of Tirath, the then Minister of State for Woman and Child Development in the UPA government.

"Keeping in view the material placed on record, this court is of the view that there is ground for presuming that Chamle has committed offences punishable under sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471(using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC. Now, to come up for framing of charge against the accused on December 19," the court said.

The court passed the order while relying on the forensic report which proved that the handwriting of the accused on the forged letter for confirmation of tickets allegedly used by Chamle was similar to the sample of his handwriting taken by the investigating officer.

"It has also come in the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report that the printed matter in the request letter (forged letter) does not tally with the admitted printed matter on original letter head of the minister which prima facie shows that the letterheads allegedly used by him for getting his wait-listed ticket confirmed, were forged.

"Moreover, the accused was apprehended red-handed by the police while using the said ticket which got confirmed after receiving request letter on forged letterheads," the court said, while adding that the question as to "whether the accused had intention to defraud is to be decided after leading of evidence".

According to the prosecution, Chamle had used scanned copies of Tirath's letterhead, bearing her signature, to get wait-listed railway tickets confirmed.

Chamle had committed forgery on several occasions and he was apprehended red-handed by the raiding party while using the ticket which got confirmed after receiving request on letterhead of the minister, it said.