Kingpin arrested for obtaining over 10,000 bail for criminals with fake surety bonds in courts

Faridabad police on Wednesday night arrested a 45-year-old man--reportedly a kingpin of a gang--for allegedly obtaining over 10,000 bails for criminals and frauds by submitting fake surety bonds in at least four courts

Faridabad police on Wednesday night arrested a 45-year-old man--reportedly a kingpin of a gang--for allegedly obtaining over 10,000 bails for criminals and frauds by submitting fake surety bonds in at least four courts.

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Police said the gang members used fake Aadhaar cards and property documents and were active since the last 10 years in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad and Palwal. The gang members were involved with lawyers and touts in courts, who would pay them to appear as a guarantor for a criminal in court and submit fake surety bonds betwee ₹25,000 and ₹50,000.

In police and court parlance, a surety is a bond between the guarantor and the court where the guarantor will have to assume responsibility for the accused and would have to pay a certain amount if the accused flees or does not appear for court hearings. The surety undertakes, assures and guarantees the appearance of the accused in the court.

The kingpin of the gang, identified as Ram Saran alias Ramu of Shahpur Khurd Ballabhgarh in Faridabad, has 20 members in his gang, each of whom were paid ₹2,000 per bail.

Narender Kadian, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said during investigation, Ram Saran revealed that he was into illegal activities for the last 16 years. “Earlier, he used to help get fake driving licences and voter id cards. Later, he switched to submitting fake surety bonds after a lawyer offered him ₹10,000 in 2012 in a Faridabad court,” he said.

Kadian said Ramu is popular in court and anyone who wants fake surety bonds knows how to get in touch with him. “His gang members are present in courts and have network with more than 100 lawyers in four courts. He used to charge ₹50,000 per case,” he said.

The DCP said the fraud came to light after several offenders and criminals did not appear for their court hearings. An internal investigation was carried by court officials, who found similar documents and fake records had been submitted for bailing out several offenders.

Kadian said they sent a policeman as a decoy client to Faridabad court, who was issued instructions to contact Ram Saran. “The modus operandi of the gang got confirmed after our official took down all details and paid an advance for preparing forged documents,” said the DCP.

“We arrested Saran from his village when he was returning home after a party. He confessed to his crime and revealed he started looking for illegal activities to please his three girlfriends. He often took them out for lunch and dinner at lavish hotels,” said Kadian.

Sethi Malik, the inspector who arrested the suspect, said Ramu was changing his location since May and used to visit his family only at night. “Our teams were deployed in plain clothes and were keeping a close watch on the house. Despite being on the run, he was actively in touch with lawyers in courts and was operating his network. He was using 10 different contact numbers,” said Malik.

Police said they are conducting raids to arrest other members of his gang. Ramu will be produced before court on Friday, said police.

“The role of lawyers and touts are under the scanner. More arrests will be made based on the statement of the suspect,” said Kadian.