Date:09/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/09/stories/2006120918191300.htm

National

Minister's signature forged, one held

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A 31-year-old man has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch in connection with the forging of the signature of the Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken. Hunt is on for the main accused.

Sreedharan T.V., personal secretary to Mr. Maken, had filed a complaint with police, saying that a letterhead of the Minister, containing forged signature, was used to seek a job for one Mukesh Kumar in the North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL). The forgery came to light in October last year when the NDPL officials got back to Mr. Sreedharan, seeking clarification on the letter's contents.

Acting on the complaint, a case was registered at the Parliament Street police station and the EOW was directed to carry out the investigations.

A team, under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police Dheeraj Kumar, tracked down Mukesh.

He reportedly disclosed that one Loha Singh approached him and offered a job in the NDPL against payment of Rs. 50,000. Further investigations revealed that Sujeet Kumar Jha, a resident of Muzzaffarpur in Bihar, was operating under the pseudonym Loha Singh.

At the instance of the police, Mukesh contacted Sujeet and asked him to meet him near Udyog Bhawan on Tuesday. Subsequently, the police arrested him.

During interrogation, Sujeet disclosed that he had worked as an office assistant with Members of Parliament and politicians in the past decade.