Woman gives forged death certificate of accused son

new delhi: a woman, whose son is facing charges of cheating, claimed he had died in gujarat and even filed a forged death certificate in a bid to help him evade proceedings. the trial in the seven-year-old case is yet to begin, as the woman, who is also a co-accused, and her son have filed 40 bail applications in various courts, including the calcutta and guwahati high courts.the two have been accused of cheating rs 40 lakh from the complainant, r m bhandari. the bail application of her son was recently dismissed by the supreme court and the proceedings of declaring him a proclaimed offender were initiated by a subordinate court. even though the woman claimed her son had died in ahmedabad, the death certificate she moved before metropolitan magistrate m c gupta on april 18 was ostensibly issued by the ankleshwar nagar palika. suspecting that the certificate was forged, public prosecutor irfan prepared a questionnaire, which the woman failed to reply. following the objections, the magistrate asked the investigating officer, sub-inspector rajiv kumar, to verify the certificate. in his report, the io said the accused had reportedly gone to ahmedabad in january 2001, following the earthquake. but when he verified the records at the nagar palika he learnt that the there were no details to corroborate the claim. ``the only entry into the register was falsely made with a view to get the proceedings dropped against him,'' the io said in his report. the io stated the mother failed to furnish details of the places her son had visited. she could not even state what caused his death. the magistrate then ordered an fir be registered against the woman. the accused is facing charges of cheating bhandari, his employer. bhandari's advocate r n mittal claimed the accused had never appeared in the court. even his mother and wife were evading a court appearance until the delhi high court passed a stern order. both were, however, given the protection of seeking bail immediately after they appeared. the two have now moved a bail application, which is still to be disposed. bhandari owned a consumer products company, with a branch office in delhi, in 1991. he diversified his business and began dealing in hire and purchase of consumer durables. the accused was employed to look after business in delhi and was in charge of appointing dealers, verifying the customers, completing the documents and collecting monthly instalments from customers. while managing the business, the accused allegedly prepared documents of non-existent customers. he allegedly opened about 18 bogus accounts in the name of dealers. the money deposited in these accounts were further transferred to his personal accounts, mittal alleged. in april 1993, bhandari learnt of the alleged cheating and an fir was lodged in the sriniwaspuri police station. the accused immediately moved an anticipatory bail application which was rejected by the sessions and later by the delhi high court. then began a plethora of applications. the accused later moved the calcutta high court on october 28, 1993. even as the application was pending, the accused moved the guwahati high court and was granted bail on february 17, 1994. bhandari then moved the supreme court which cancelled their bail. the police have already filed the chargesheet. the complainant, r m bhandari, in his quest for justice, had to sell his house in new friends colony to meet the litigation expenses. and while bhandari has attended every court hearing, which have moved from subordinate courts to the supreme court, the accused has managed to avoid them.