CBI books 3 people for forging letterhead of Union minister

The CBI has booked three people for allegedly extracting money from job aspirants and railway contractors by using forged letterheads of Union minister Ramdas Athawale, agency officials said here today.
G C Sridharan, A Clement Charles and M Pugazhendi have been named in the CBI FIR, which also include "unidentified public servants and private persons", they said.
The FIR, registered on the basis of a complaint to the vigilance officer of Southern Railway, says that these individuals "collected huge money" from people seeking railway jobs and contracts, and cheated them by using "bogus letter pad" of the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment.

The letters written to the minister of railways on the purported letter pad recommended the candidates for consideration for various employment opportunities in the railways.
The three accused also used a range of other fake documents to dupe job aspirants which included appointment letters purportedly issued by the chief personnel officer of the railways.
While Sridharan identified himself as "National Secretary/CEC/NDLS/ Zonal Secretary/SWR/UBL", Charles claimed to be an arbitrator of the Supreme Court and a resident of Vellore in Tamil Nadu. Pugazhendhi is also a resident of Vellore.

The CBI sources said although they identified themselves with these designations, the agency is considering them as private individuals.

They said how they assumed these identities are also a matter of probe for the agency.
Based on a complaint from the railways, the agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and under provisions of the prevention of corruption act against the three people.