MLA’s letterhead faked for job recommendation

Following fake letterheads of the chief minister’s political secretary S R Vishwanath and Mayakonda MLA N Linganna, another legislator’s identity has been forged to present a bogus recommendation.

An unknown person has forged the letterhead and signature of Hosadurga MLA Gulihatti D Shekar to get the vice-president’s post at the forest development corporation.

As if forging the documents was not enough, the accused also made phone calls in the legislator’s name to fast-track the appointment.

The conman is also believed to have forged the letterheads of Kannada and Culture Minister C T Ravi, Minister for Mines and Geology C C Patil and Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, among others.

Shekar lodged a complaint with the Vidhana Soudha police, who registered a case against an unknown person for cheating and forgery.

The Vidhana Soudha police said a recommendation to nominate Suresh S as vice-president of the forest development board was sent on February 13 using Shekar’s letterhead and signature.

Noting that the file is pending with the additional chief secretary, forest, the fake official note requested forest minister Anand Singh to process it.

The fraud emerged when the forest department checked with Shekar about the recommendation.

While seeking a detailed investigation, Shekar claimed that fake recommendation letters exist in the names of
Ravi, Patil and Angadi. Posing as Shekar, the conman had even called the PA of the forest minister to expedite the file.

Shekar gave the conman’s phone number to the police.

The inspector of the Vidhana Soudha police station believes that the same person could be behind all the fake identity cases.
The person has become unreachable after the FIR was registered and the police are making all efforts to nab him, the inspector added.