Five BMC staffers booked for cheating candidates

Five BMC employees booked by Mumbai police for cheating 61 candidates of ₹23 lakh by giving fake fireman job appointment letters with forged signatures.

MUMBAI: Five employees of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), including two head clerks working at the headquarters, have been booked by the Agripada police in South Mumbai for allegedly cheating 61 candidates to the tune of ₹23 lakh by accepting money from them for jobs and giving them forged appointment letters for the post of fireman/fire-fighters. The police said there was a recruitment drive in the fire-department in 2023 for 910 posts. After selection of candidates, around 277 candidates were kept on waiting list which was kept confidential.

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The police said around 61 candidates got fake letters and they suspect they could be from the confidential list of the candidates. The letters had forged signatures of the Chief Fire Officer.

Police registered a case against Manish Patil, chief clerk (then chief clerk of the recruitment drive), Rupesh Patil, clerk, Dattatray Pawar, fire man, Devidas Waghmare and Malhari Shinde, security guard under sections 34 (common intention), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).

The police said the BMC and fire-brigade department came to know that some 61 candidates had got appointment letters that asked them to appear on 12 July with all their documents.

“When the appointment letters of these candidates who came to office were checked, it was found that under the signature, the date was of 2021, while on the letter, it was 2024, which created suspicion in the minds of the authorities. Further, the signature of the fire chief also looked fake, and no entries of the letter were found in the books of the fire brigade department. So, it was concluded that the letters were fake,” said the police officer.

One of the accused, Rupesh Patil, a clerk, when questioned by senior officers, accepted the crime.

The fire department had called applications for the post of 910 fireman, of which, 726 completed training and 10 were in the process of completing it.

“We are inquiring if the 61 candidates who have got the appointment letters are from the confidential waiting list. The list expired as it was made for a short term. We registered the case on a complaint by Ramesh Bhor, who is posted as the fire department head of the Byculla fire unit,” said the police officer.