Additional JMFC court declared Niranjan Chidanand Bhat guilty of impersonating former president of India A P J Abdul Kalam and sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment on Monday. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs 7,000.
Bhat began using the former president’s name when he was still alive. Besides impersonation, he forged the former president’s signature and created fake documents.
He also created an email-id apj_abdulkalam@in.co at the cyber centre ‘Surf N View’ near Karavali junction.
He sent a mail attached with a recommendation letter bearing the forged signature of Dr Kalam in which he nominated himself for the American Engineers Organisation’s Hoover award.
He also mailed a recommendation letter to Goswami D Yogi in New York with the help of the fake e-mail he created. The letter sought details of a 50 MW solar thermal plant project.
Bhat also attempted to hoodwink officials by trying to prove that all the documents he sent were genuine. This forgery came to the notice of district intelligence department which lodged a complaint. The case was investigated by I Ganesh Hedge, who subsequently filed a charge sheet.
The case was argued by the then public prosecutor Mamthaz and the present assistant public prosecutor Jayanti K.