Four Booked Over Alleged Fake Sureties and Forged Court Documents

Agra. A case involving alleged manipulation of documents and preparation of forged government verification reports to secure bail has come to light at the civil court. The allegation is that to obtain bail for Vishnu, who was jailed in a cheating case, the original Aadhaar cards and other documents of two women were used, but their photographs were replaced with those of other women through computer-based editing.

In addition, allegedly fabricated police and tehsil reports were submitted to the court in the name of verification of the sureties. After securing bail, Vishnu failed to appear before the court and absconded. When a non-bailable warrant was issued and police reached the addresses of the sureties, both women denied having stood surety for anyone. Following this, an FIR was registered at New Agra police station against four people, including an advocate, and an investigation was launched.

Proposal for Conducting Cyber Crisis Drill, Tabletop Exercise (TTEx) & CCMP Readiness Exercise

‘State vs Vishnu’ case was pending in court

The case is linked to the ‘State vs Vishnu’ matter pending before the court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Court No. 19. Sunil Goyal, the court’s reader, submitted a complaint following which the FIR was registered. Saurabh Kumar, advocate Jasveer Singh and two women have been named as accused.

According to the complaint, Vishnu, a resident of Shahdara under Trans Yamuna police station, was arrested around three years ago and sent to jail in connection with a cheating case. He was granted bail by the court in 2023. Aadhaar cards and other documents belonging to two women, Tulsa Devi and Vimla Devi, were submitted for his bail. The two women were presented as sureties.

Police reach homes with warrant, fraud comes to light

After being released on bail, Vishnu failed to appear before the court on the scheduled date. A non-bailable warrant was subsequently issued against him. Police began verifying the sureties and reached the addresses provided for Tulsa Devi and Vimla Devi. Both women told the police that they had never stood surety for Vishnu or any other accused.

On August 19, the two women subsequently submitted affidavits before the court explaining their position. They stated that they had not stood surety for anyone in the case and had not consented to the bail documents. The women also produced their original Aadhaar cards before the court and requested that their names be removed from the bail proceedings.

Aadhaar numbers allegedly changed, photographs of other women inserted

The examination of the documents revealed several alleged irregularities. According to the allegations, the names and addresses on the original Aadhaar cards of Tulsa Devi and Vimla Devi were retained, but the Aadhaar numbers were changed. Photographs of other women who were allegedly presented in court during the bail process were also pasted onto the documents.

The allegation is that the identity documents of the actual women were thus used to present other women as sureties before the court. Police are now investigating how the documents were altered, who prepared them and how the allegedly forged papers reached the court.

Allegedly fabricated police and tehsil reports also submitted

The alleged manipulation was not limited to Aadhaar cards. A verification report purportedly issued in the names of the Tehsildar of Etmadpur and the station house officer was also prepared and submitted to the court. The report carried the name of Ram Gopal as a sub-inspector of Etmadduala police station.

The investigation found that Trans Yamuna police station had already been carved out of Etmadduala police station in January 2023. Despite this, documents related to Vishnu’s bail were prepared in October 2023 in the name of Etmadduala police station. Investigators also found that Ram Gopal, whose name appeared on the alleged report, was not posted at the police station during that period.

Similarly, the alleged verification report sent from the tehsil carried the name of revenue inspector Rameshwar Prasad. Police are examining the authenticity of these documents and the role of those who allegedly prepared them.

Saurabh’s role under investigation, women whose photos were used being traced

During the bail-bond process, Saurabh Kumar is said to have engaged advocates Pratibha Arya, AK Gautam and Ram Avtar. However, the bail bond was ultimately submitted through another advocate. The complaint submitted by the court reader has raised the possibility that the entire episode was carried out through an organised arrangement.

Police are also searching for the women whose photographs were allegedly placed on the Aadhaar cards and who were presented as sureties in court. Investigators are trying to establish who prepared the forged documents, how the government verification reports were generated and who else was involved in the process.

City Deputy Commissioner of Police Syed Ali Abbas said a case involving the use of forged documents to secure bail had come to light at the civil court. An FIR has been registered and the matter is being investigated. The police will examine which advocate submitted the bail documents and question the people concerned. Efforts are also underway to trace the absconding accused.

Similar cases have surfaced earlier

Cases involving fake sureties and forged documents being used to secure bail have surfaced in courts in the past as well. There have been instances in which alleged rackets involved in such fraud were caught and cases were registered at police stations. Recently, a case involving the alleged use of forged documents of a woman to secure the release of a vehicle on bail was also detected. Police are now examining whether the same method was used to arrange bail in other cases and whether a larger network was involved.