30-yr-old, brother-in-law jailed for swapping identities in Mumbai court

Arunkumar Gaud left for his home town in UP to perform his father’s last rites, and asked his brother-in-law Ganesh Swaminath Gaud to appear in the court on his behalf

Impersonating his brother-in-law in Andheri Magistrate court landed a 30-year-old man in jail, after the complainant informed the court that the accused present for the hearing wasn’t the one against whom he field a case.

Arrest-handcuffs.

According to the Andheri police, accused Arunkumar Govind Gaud was arrested by the Vile Parle police and was booked under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2012 for assaulting a food vendor.

Arunkumar was supposed to be present in the Andheri court for a hearing regarding the same case on September 21. However, he left for his home town in Uttar Pradesh to perform his father’s last rites. Before leaving, he asked his brother-in-law Ganesh Swaminath Gaud to appear in the court as Arunkumar Gaud.

Acting on the Magistrate’s directives, a case was registered at the Andheri police station by the court karkoon (clerk), following which Ganesh and Arunkumar were booked under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 205 (false personation for purpose of act or proceeding in suit or prosecution) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC. Senior police inspector Pandit Thorat from Andheri police station confirmed that the two were arrested and booked.

“While the court proceeding were underway, the complainant realised that the third accused in the case — Arunkumar Gaud — was missing. When the Magistrate called his name, Ganesh stood up. Upon learning that he was not the accused, but his brother-in-law, both were arrested. While Ganesh was arrested from the court premises on September, Arunkumar was arrested the next day after he was asked to visit the police station immediately,” said an officer from Andheri police station.