PUNE: Thanks to 25-year-old Chaya Tambe, the alert woman guard stationed at the Yerawada central prison on Friday, an attempt by two criminals to use forged Aadhaar cards — for the purpose of gaining entry into the jail to meet two undertrial prisoners — was foiled.
The suspects, identified as 25-year-old Omkar
Raju Chaudhary and 27-year-old Akash Anil Potgan from
Chinchwad, are both criminals on record. They will now be in police remand until January 9.
Chaudhary and Potgan, along with others, were arrested by the Chinchwad police in a murder case in 2015. They were prosecuted under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). About two months ago, they were released on bail. On Friday, they wanted to meet their accomplices — Balaji alias
Balya Damodar Shinde and Kishore Vijay
Bhigvankar — who have been in the jail since September 19, 2015.
A prison official said, "The suspects, claiming to be the relatives of Shinde and Bhigvankar, had sought permission to meet them in the waiting room. They had even furnished Aadhaar card details. However, the Tambe, the guard posted at the jail entrance, got suspicious and asked them to provide their PAN card or driving licence details as well. Chaudhary and Potgan started arguing with her claiming that the Aadhaar cards were genuine and that they were in a hurry to meet the inmates."
"The guard informed her superiors and the suspects were told to wait. During a preliminary inquiry conducted by the senior officials, the duo confessed to forging the Aadhaar cards. They were handed over to the Yerawada police after Tambe lodged a complaint of cheating and forgery against them. Her name will be recommended for a reward to the state prisons department chief," the official further added.
Pravin Deshmukh, the subinspector of Yerawada police, said, "The duo had used the names of the undertrial prisoners' fathers in the forged documents to gain entry into the prison. However, the details did not tally with our official records. We are interrogating them to find out from where they for the forged Aadhaar cards."
Representative Image
