Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 1: Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police last night raided the house of senior bureaucrat Mohammad Mehraj-ud-Din Khan and arrested him for fudging date of birth in his service records.
Khan, Commissioner/ Secretary to the Government, ARI and Trainings, was arrested last night for resorting to the change of date of birth in his service records after preliminary investigations into the case established the fraud. A case FIR No. 37/2018 U/S 420, 468 & 471 RPC was registered in Police Station Crime Branch Kashmir and investigation taken up.
The Crime Branch acted upon the communication it received from Government through General Administration Department stating that as per the available records with the GAD, the date of birth of Mohammad Mehraj-ud-Din Khan, KAS, Commissioner/ Secretary to the Government, ARI and Trainings Department is 09-11-1958 (Ninth November, Nineteen Hundred fifty Eight).
The Government had to issue a notification with regard to his retirement which is due on November 2018. The officer was asked (vide GAD O.M. dated 26-12-2017) to submit his original service-book and date of birth certificate followed by reminders but despite multiple reminders the officer did not furnish the requisite records.
However, on the basis of available records, the competent authority has approved notification of his date of retirement as 30-11-2018 (Thirtieth November, Two Thousand Eighteen). Later, the officer submitted his original service book in response to GAD communication No: GAD(Legal)F-78/2017 dated: 08-03-2018.
During the perusal of the service records, it revealed/ reflected his date of birth as 09-11-1961 (Ninth November, Nineteen Hundred Sixty One) which is contradictory.
After the contradictory date of birth, the GAD referred the case to the Director Forensic Science Laboratory J&K for examination. The FSL expert in its report (vide No. 148-Doc dated. 27-08-2018) opined that the first page of the original service-book has been inserted at a later stage and the provisional certificate in the original service-book has been pasted on the typed certificate of Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
Sources said that during preliminary investigations, Khan failed to produce the Matriculation certificate and instead gave Jamia Board certificate, which is not a recognized Board.
A Crime Branch spokesman said: “The accused dishonestly and fraudulently has thus resorted to change of his date of birth and the records on the service book thereof, with malafied intention to enhance his service period by about three years.”
He was earlier Administrative Secretary of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department and Agriculture Production Department. He started his career as Village Level worker and then was promoted as Supervisor and later became Assistant Engineer, Assistant Executive Engineer, Executive Engineer and later he was inducted into KAS under Court orders. Sources said that some top bureaucrats helped his induction into KAS and now he was trying for IAS induction.
In recent years, this is the first time that a senior bureaucrat has been arrested by the Police. People in general have hailed the move and demanded that the other officers who have committed frauds be also dealt with strongly.
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