Delhi L-G gives nod to prosecute IAS officer for 'forging' signs of chief secretaries

New Delhi: Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has granted sanction for the prosecution of IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai for allegedly forging the signatures of three chief secretaries of two Union Territories on his annual performance appraisal reports, Raj Niwas officials said on Thursday.

The Lt Governor has also recommended the case to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further action, they added.

There was no immediate reaction from Rai.

A 2007 batch IAS officer, Rai allegedly forged the signatures of his reviewing authority -- the chief secretaries of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Delhi -- between 2017 and 2021, officials said.

A criminal case of forgery has been registered against Rai at the IP Estate Police Station on the complaint of the Special Secretary (Vigilance) of the Delhi government, they added.

Rai, in his annual performance appraisal reports (APARs) for the period April 1, 2017, to October 8, 2017 and October 9, 2017, to March 31, 2018, forged the signatures of his then reporting authority -- S C L Das, the then principal secretary (revenue) in Andaman and Nicobar administration and the reviewing authority, Anindo Majumdar, the then chief secretary there, the Directorate of Vigilance official said.

In the APAR for the period April 1, 2019, to July 30, 2019, Rai forged the signatures of the reporting authority, Vikram Dev Dutt, the then principal secretary (revenue) in Andaman and Nicobar administration and reviewing authority, Chetan Bhushan Sanghi, the then chief secretary there.

Rai was posted as DM in the Andaman and Nicobar administration, the official shared. When Rai was transferred to Delhi, he was posted as director (education) in the Delhi government.

In the successive APARs for the period August 31, 2020, to March 31, 2021, Rai allegedly forged the signatures of his reporting authority, H Rajesh Prasad, the then principal secretary (education), and the signature of the reviewing authority, Vijay Kumar Dev, the then chief secretary of Delhi, the official claimed.

During the investigation, it came to light that Rai, deliberately filled his APARs manually and not online, through the SPARROW Portal, citing technical glitches he added.

"However, during the inquiry, two officers Anindo Majumdar and Vijay Kumar Dev, denied having reviewed the APARs of Rai and confirmed that the signatures on his APARs were forged.

"Even the FSL report confirmed that the specimen signatures and handwritings of Anindo Majumdar and Vijay Kumar Dev did not match with those on Rai’s APARs," he added.

The matter was earlier placed before the LG and due to its seriousness, he had recommended initiating disciplinary and criminal action against Rai, now posted in Mizoram and under suspension. Also, since Rai is posted outside Delhi, his case was not required to be routed through NCCSA.

Rai is under suspension in another corruption-related matter wherein he was charged with taking graft money from an engineer in the Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board while serving as its vice-chairman.

He has also been charged with demolishing a heritage structure for the construction of his official residence in Delhi’s Jal Vihar, while he was serving as the CEO of DJB, for Rs 5 crore.