250 drivers for Delhi Police were hired with fake licenses

New Delhi, Apr 6: Around 250 people hired by Delhi Police as drivers last year used fake or forged for securing the job, an investigation has revealed. The police have filed five cases and are in the process of registering more First Information Reports (FIRs) as investigations are being carried on, a senior police official said.

In one case, the applicant allegedly forged the licence of a woman in Manipur. Delhi Police had issued advertisements to fill up 676 vacancies of drivers in the rank of Constables in February 2009.

"We provisionally selected 676 drivers subject to verification of their driving licences. However, we found that 250 of them have submitted fake or forged documents. Five cases have been registered and may be, some more will be filed," the official said.

However, he claimed, that they had not joined duty as the verification process was on. "Normally every year during recruitment, we find four to five cases. But in this case, the number is very high," he said.

In the case of Hari Om, the official claimed, he submitted a heavy driving licence from Jammu Kashmir having its validity till December 2014 but during verification it came to light that it was issued in the name of one Nazir Ahmed Kaloo for light vehicles and motorcycles.

Similarly, Deswal allegedly submitted a heavy driving licence issued from Haryana's Gurgaon but an investigation showed that the document was actually issued in Bokaro in Jharkhand.

Jat allegedly produced a licence from Jalandhar in Punjab which was valid till October 2007 only. Further, it was noted that the licence was renewed in Meerut; however, the authorities there denied this.

Lalit Kumar allegedly submitted his driving licence which was actually issued in the name of one Sunil Saxena in Bulandshahr. The document allegedly given by Kumar also showed that the licence was renewed in Firozabad but it was discovered to be false.

The official said Sanjeet Kumar had submitted heavy driving licence issued from Imphal West with validity upto October 2009 but he claimed the verification in Manipur showed that the licence had been forged.

A show cause notice for cancellation of candidature was served upon him. He submitted a reply pleading that his driving licence is genuine and it should again be verified by the department.

"Accordingly, DCP (Crime) was requested to get the verification again by deputing a responsible officer.
The verification report revealed that the driving licence was valid for driving light vehicles with effect from October 2005," the official said.

Since two contradictory reports came, the official said, Special Branch was asked to re-verify the licence.

In its report submitted this February, the Special Branch claimed that the licence was issued in the name of one Geetabli Devi and it was for light motor vehicles.

According to investigations, some of them who submitted the licences were not even aware that the licences were forged as they had paid money to agents but were duped.

PTI