Bails secured using fake docus in MCOCA, sex abuse, murder cases

Nagpur: The city police have come across over a dozen serious crimes in which bail was procured from the sessions court this year by furnishing fake documents. The fake papers were prepared by a gang that is already behind bars following a crime branch crackdown earlier this month.
The crime branch on Monday made the fifth arrest in the case, rounding up Salim Shahzad Rajjak for preparing fake tax receipts for the racketeers. The mastermind of the racket, Sunil Sonkusre, and four others, including a woman, had been arrested earlier by a team of senior inspector Kishor Parvate under DCP Chinmay Pandit and Addl CP Navinchandra Reddy.
The matters in which bails were fraudulently procured included murder, sexual abuse of minors, kidnapping and also cases being prosecuted under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). Sources said the cops had been stunned on uncovering information that the judicial process had been fooled with fake documents and impersonations. The police department is now trying to gauge the extent of the damage.
In some cases, the racket prepared fake documents to give guarantors bogus identities, at the instance of lawyers. The involvement of court clerks is also coming to fore in the investigation, which is still underway.
A senior official said preliminary information gathered from the courts was just a beginning, to understand the modus operandi of the racketeers and present evidence to the city police top brass for further action. But the gravity of cases in which bails were procured have left the cops stunned. “At least a dozen lawyers have furnished undertaking stating they know the guarantors and were all genuine, even when they were actually impersonating. The fake documents and such undertakings are now with police,” said a senior official.
District Bar Association president advocate Kamal Satuja said the alleged malpractices tantamount to direct intervention in the process of justice. “Some of the solvency certificates issued were genuine but were financially manipulated to show extra income by the racketeers. It is not acceptable that lawyers and racketeers are involved in wrong-doings like preparing fake documents for bails. It is better to leave a client behind bars for a longer period rather than use fake documents to free them at the expense of justice to the victims,” said Satuja.
He added they are cooperating with the police investigation. “The police department has already contacted us,” he said.