Man forges RTI reply, uses it as proof in HC

Times of India: Ghaziabad: Wednesday, 21 January 2015.

A Ghaziabad resident was booked on Tuesday for allegedly altering the contents of an RTI reply from the district administration, and furnishing the document as evidence in the Allahabad high court in a land dispute case against the Ghaziabad Development Authority.

Police said that the accused, Moti Goel, who has at least 18 cases of land-grabbing pending against him, had also forged the signature of the assistant public information officer (APIO) before submitting the document to the court.

"Goel had asked the district administration through an RTI for information on ownership of a plot in the city. In its reply, the district administration had said that the UP Housing Board was the rightful owner of the plot. However, before submitting the RTI document in court, he removed the name of UP Housing Board from the ownership column and also forged the signature of the information officer on the document," said Ghanshyam Singh, ADM (Land Acquisition) of Ghaziabad.

The forgery came to light after GDA asked the district administration why the ownership column was left blank despite GDA records showing that the land belongs to UP Housing Board. The copies of the RTI reply by the district administration were then matched with the document submitted by Goel in the high court, which proved the forgery, a GDA official said. The APIO, Premchand Gaur, whose signature was forged, also lodged a complaint at the Sihani Gate police station on Tuesday. Police said that Goel has been booked for cheating (Section 420 of IPC), forgery of valuable security and will (Section 467), forgery for purpose of cheating (Section 468).

"The accused is a proclaimed land mafioso in the city. Several cases related to forgery of land documents are pending against him in Ghaziabad," said Ranvijay Singh, DSP (Ghaziabad).