Times of India: Rajkot: Sunday, 4th Feb 2024.
A self-proclaimed RTI activist involved in liasoning work with the state education department was booked by the CID Crime, Rajkot, for forgery and extorting Rs 27.50 lakh from an educational institute in Bhavnagar.
Mahendra Patel, a resident of Sargasan in Gandhinagar, was booked after a complaint was lodged against him by Bholabhai Chauhan, trustee of an education trust that runs Shree Gyanganga Vidhya Sankul Prathmik Shala in Sihor town near Bhavnagar. Chauhan is engaged in the business of supplying building materials.
The school got an affiliation from the education department in May 2019. Earlier, Chauhan had assigned the work to get affliction to Jorsinh Parmar who took Patel’s help and got the work done.
After four months, Chauhan got a call from Patel who threatened him to get the affliction cancelled on the grounds that the documents submitted to the education department were tampered with. Patel then demanded Rs 15 lakh not to disclose this to anyone and not file an application with the education department regarding the school. The deal was finalized for Rs 13.50 lakh and Chauhan and other trustees paid this amount in cash.
Patel after that continued to blackmail Chauhan but the latter did not yield to his demands for money.
Patel allegedly got the school’s documents from the education department using RTI and submitted multiple applications alleging that the papers were tampered with. The department cancelled the affiliation of the school in Jan 2020. Patel again approached Chauhan and demanded Rs 12 lakh to revoke the cancellation and took Rs 10 lakh to complete this job. Chauhan wanted to start secondary education classes and again paid Rs four lakh to Patel. He also promised to pay him Rs eight lakhs more after the classes start.
In his complaint, Chauhan alleged that Patel threatened him and forced him to pay a total of Rs 27.50 lakh since 2019. Scared of these threats, Chauhan did not approach the police but he was unable to pay more and filed a complaint against him.
A self-proclaimed RTI activist involved in liasoning work with the state education department was booked by the CID Crime, Rajkot, for forgery and extorting Rs 27.50 lakh from an educational institute in Bhavnagar.
Mahendra Patel, a resident of Sargasan in Gandhinagar, was booked after a complaint was lodged against him by Bholabhai Chauhan, trustee of an education trust that runs Shree Gyanganga Vidhya Sankul Prathmik Shala in Sihor town near Bhavnagar. Chauhan is engaged in the business of supplying building materials.
The school got an affiliation from the education department in May 2019. Earlier, Chauhan had assigned the work to get affliction to Jorsinh Parmar who took Patel’s help and got the work done.
After four months, Chauhan got a call from Patel who threatened him to get the affliction cancelled on the grounds that the documents submitted to the education department were tampered with. Patel then demanded Rs 15 lakh not to disclose this to anyone and not file an application with the education department regarding the school. The deal was finalized for Rs 13.50 lakh and Chauhan and other trustees paid this amount in cash.
Patel after that continued to blackmail Chauhan but the latter did not yield to his demands for money.
Patel allegedly got the school’s documents from the education department using RTI and submitted multiple applications alleging that the papers were tampered with. The department cancelled the affiliation of the school in Jan 2020. Patel again approached Chauhan and demanded Rs 12 lakh to revoke the cancellation and took Rs 10 lakh to complete this job. Chauhan wanted to start secondary education classes and again paid Rs four lakh to Patel. He also promised to pay him Rs eight lakhs more after the classes start.
In his complaint, Chauhan alleged that Patel threatened him and forced him to pay a total of Rs 27.50 lakh since 2019. Scared of these threats, Chauhan did not approach the police but he was unable to pay more and filed a complaint against him.
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