3 got jobs on fake appointment letters in 1989, booked

Bageshwar: A fraud case has been filed against three men from Uttar Pradesh recently for allegedly securing jobs in Uttarakhand's Almora health department using forged appointment letters in 1989. The accused, Arun Shukla and Jaiveer Singh from Kanpur, and Birbal Singh from Farrukhabad, had drawn salaries as multipurpose health workers.Back in 1992, the then chief medical officer (CMO) had raised concerns about their fraudulent appointments, but the trio obtained a court stay on departmental action. The matter resurfaced in 2021 when Birbal applied for pension and retirement benefits.Shukla was acquitted in the matter in 2012 while Birbal never appeared in court and Jaiveer left the job and remained untraceable. Due to "departmental lapses", the matter saw no further action.A fresh review of Birbal's records revealed that the appointment letters were not authentic and lacked valid administrative signatures. Though Birbal again challenged the department in court, officials submitted that while he had previously been granted a 28-day stay, he failed to appear thereafter in court.Following the renewed findings, the court directed Almora CMO Dr R C Pant to submit details of action taken, if any. Pant subsequently lodged a formal complaint against all three at Almora police station last week.SHO Yogesh Chandra Upadhyay said an FIR was registered on Friday under IPC sections related to forgery, including 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), based on Pant's complaint. "Further investigation is on and action will be taken based on the evidence collected during the inquiry," he said.