Retd govt official held for forging documents

MUMBAI: Kherwadi police arrested a retired assistant sales tax commissioner Prakash Bawaskar on Thursday for cheating charges. He had submitted forged documents at the collector’s office earlier this year in February, to help his aide, Raju Kakade (35), get a house under the chief minister’s quota. Bawaskar, had been absconding since the case was registered on August 10. Bawaskar was produced in a local court on Thursday. According to police sources, the scam under the scanner after a Right To Information (RTI) query was submitted by a whistleblower. The RTI query revealed Bawaskar had processed forged documents on behalf of his aide, Kakade, and got a flat allotted under the quota, after showing him as residing in a rented flat. When this matter came to light, Arun Jadhav, from the deputy collector’s office registered a complaint against the duo on August 10. The collector’s office also submitted documents showing Bawaskar’s involvement. Acting on the complaint, Kherwadi police began the investigation and verified the roles of Bawaskar and Kakade. After verification, on October 17, Kakade was arrested from his Bandra (E) residence. After Bawaskar learnt about his aide’s arrest, he went off radar. Rajendra Patil, senior police officer of Kherwadi police station said, “We had seized the property allotted to Kakade and began a search operation to nab Bawaskar. He was finally arrested on Decembe 6 from Thane.” Meanwhile, police also arrested three more accused in the same case, who had helped Bawaskar get all contacts from Bhayandar back office. The investigators also said a disproportionate assets case had been filed by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Thane against Bawaskar.