BJP corporator in Mumbai claims her caste record was tampered with

Yogita Koli, the BJP corporator from Malad West. (Source: Express Photo)

A BJP corporator in Malad registered a police complaint last week alleging that an unknown person deliberately tampered with official records and manipulated her caste status in order to get her disqualified, following her victory in the BMC elections earlier this year. Yogita Koli (42), who won from Ward 46 in Malad (West) that was reserved for Other Backward Castes (OBC) women in February, was dragged to court after the nearest losing candidate, Shiv Sena’s Anagha Mhatre, approached the Small Causes Court alleging that Koli had falsely represented that she belongs to the OBC community.

Following Mhatre’s case in May, the Caste Validity Office of the Maharashtra government launched an inquiry into Koli’s caste status. During investigation, the office inquired at the Malad Girls’ Municipal School, where Koli had studied and found in its records that the caste of her father, Sudam Keni, had been entered as Hindu – Mahadeo Koli. In her complaint, however, Koli mentioned that her family belongs to the Son Koli caste – a Special Backward Caste. The Mahadeo Kolis are notified by the state government as a Scheduled Tribe.

“My father told the caste validity office that his school leaving certificate mentions his caste as Son Koli and that his mother and uncles are all Son Kolis,” said Koli. With her election victory under threat, Koli undertook her own investigation and sent her husband Sunil and brother Siddhesh to Thane’s Sonabai Pestonji Hakimji High School and Malad’s Utkarsh Mandir School, where her father had studied. Sunil Koli, who was earlier an independent BMC corporator from Malad West, procured school leaving certificates from both schools, which mention Sudam Keni’s caste as Son Koli. “We then became suspicious about the entry at the Malad Girls’ Municipal School,” said Koli.

On their first attempt at inquiring with the school’s headmistress, they were told that in the school’s register, Sudam Keni’s caste had been mentioned as Mahadeo Koli. Koli then asked for the original register. “In the register, it looked like that the words Mahadeo Koli had been written faintly on top of some cancelled words,” said Sunil.Koli then approached the police with a photocopy of the school register, alleging that an unidentified person had tampered with the school’s register and then informed Mhatre about her caste status, which formed the basis for the corporator’s litigation.

“We have an idea about who might be responsible for the forgery but do not have any evidence yet,” said Sunil. Last week, Malad police station registered a case of cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code against an unknown individual. Sudhir Mahadik, senior inspector, Malad police station, said an investigation into Koli’s allegations is underway. Mhatre refused to comment on Koil’s police complaint. “I have filed my case in court,” she said.