How a dead man's signature sparked a 20-year-old corruption case against govt official

Indian Express

11 hours ago

In 2005, Food Safety Officer Sunil Kumar Sachan renewed the licence of a Kerosene Oil Depot (KOD) — an industrial facility used for bulk storage of kerosene and other petroleum products — in Northeast Delhi's Gokulpur.
The catch? The licence for Shiv KOD was allegedly renewed using the signature of Dunger Singh, a licence holder with a major share in the depot — who had been dead for over a year.
In 2006, the Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) lodged an FIR under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Sachan.
Close to two decades later, on August 18, a Delhi court directed that charges be framed against Sachan and two others — Simpal Garg, and Dunger's business partner Rajeev Kumar — in this case.
'A grave suspicion arises indicating active involvement of accused Sunil Kumar Sachan with co-accused Simpal Garg and Rajeev Kumar that they have conspired to cheat and forge the signatures of a deceased person, namely Dunger Singh, to illegally obtain the KOD licence to cause financial benefit to accused Rajeev Kumar,' noted Special Judge Dr Ruchi Aggarwal Asrani of Rouse Avenue Court in her order.
What landed the government servant and his alleged co-conspirators in trouble was a signature in Hindi and a statement given by Dunger's real brother confirming his date of death.
While all of Dunger's signatures on the files concerned before his death had been in English, the ones on the licence renewal form were in Hindi, the probe found. Dunger's brother and his daughter-in-law also told the ACB that he had passed away on August 5, 2004.
The licence renewal application was dated July 12, 2005.
There was another twist to the tale — two death certificates were issued.
The then Gram Panchayat Adhikari and Registrar, Births and Deaths, of Baghpat had mentioned the date of Dunger's death as August 5, 2004, on one death certificate and October 2005 on another death certificate.
The judge said: 'This court is of the view that there is a strong contention that Sh. Dunger Singh had actually died on 05.08.2004. The ACB had told the court that the two dates had been given by the Registrar to 'save the accused'.
'The prosecution has established that the accused, Sunil Kumar Sachan, had attested the signatures and photographs of Sh. Dunger Singh when he was allegedly not alive. It is an admitted case of the accused persons that accused Rajeev Kumar was a partner in M/s Shiv KOD and, thus, he had the underlying interest in the grant of the licence…,' Judge Asrani said, adding that FSL reports showed that Singh's signatures had been forged.
Earlier, the ACB had filed a closure report in this case. This was rejected by Judge Asrani's predecessor, who stated: 'Dunger Singh had always put his signature in English. The entire file, from the day he got the licence in 1986 till the last renewal in 2002, bears his signature in English… except this last application for renewal of licence in 2005, the same is signed very neatly in Hindi'.
The court had also noted that not enough efforts were made to question Rajeev Kumar.