Lalit Varma allegedly fudged his birth certificate
After being severely criticised for its shoddy investigation of the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today finally chargesheeted Lalit Varma, a senior IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, for allegedly fudging his birth certificate.
Varma, an IAS officer of the 1984 batch and currently posted as commissioner of Allahabad, allegedly fudged his birth certificate by lowering his age by nearly 35 months and also made a false representation to the Department of Personnel and Training, the cadre controlling authority.
The CBI had earlier filed a closure report in the case but after re-investigating it, the agency found Varma allegedly guilty of overwriting on forms filled for his IAS exams in 1983. The CBI also began an investigation against one of its own officers, currently an Inspector General of Police in Kerala, who was the supervisory officer for filing the closure report.
The agency has booked Varma under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 and 468 read with 471 (sections dealing with forgery) of the IPC, CBI sources said.
During its investigation, the CBI found that Varma had allegedly taken out his official forms from the DoPT and changed his date of birth from March 1, 1959 to February 13, 1962. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory has given an opinion that different ink was used to file the form and the date of birth column in the same form, CBI sources said.
{{/usCountry}}During its investigation, the CBI found that Varma had allegedly taken out his official forms from the DoPT and changed his date of birth from March 1, 1959 to February 13, 1962. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory has given an opinion that different ink was used to file the form and the date of birth column in the same form, CBI sources said.
{{/usCountry}}The CFSL report was available earlier as well when the CBI had filed a closure report on January 14, 2005. The agency, after investigating the matter for nearly three years, filed a closure report, saying that there was not enough evidence to prosecute Varma.
However, the closure report was not accepted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, who sought an opinion from the DoPT that was the complainant in the case.
Fuming DoPT officials moved the court in July last year and sought re-investigation of the case.
During the probe, the CBI, however, could not find the involvement of any DoPT official who helped Varma in taking out his forms for changing the date of birth.