Ganu had forged the school records, making an additional entry to issue a school leaving certificate to Satyabhama Ramalakhan Pardesi. The certificate mentioned Pardesi's caste as `Hindu-Mahadeo Koli', which is included in the list of Scheduled Tribes.

The fraud came to light recently when the committee of the Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune, undertook a scrutiny of documents of Pardesi's son, Ramchandra Pardeshi, who was elected corporator from Municipal Ward No 33 reserved for Scheduled Tribes in 1997.

After Ramchandra was elected on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, an Independent candidate, Manjula Dattatraya Wale, had challenged his election on the ground that he was not a Scheduled Tribe candidate. Accordingly, the scrutiny committee for verification of tribe claims, Nashik division, had undertaken a verification ofPardeshi's documents as per orders from the Tribal Research and Training Institute.

The committee concluded investigations on February 16, declaring that Pardeshi did not belong to a Scheduled Tribe and that the documents produced by him were forged. The committee had found that Pardeshi's father belonged to the `Ahir' community recognised as an Other Backward Class.

The certificate mentioning Pardeshi's mother's caste as Hindu Mahadeo Koli was found to have been forged by the school authorities. The headmistress had made an additional entry in the records to issue the bogus certificate. The committee urged the municipal commissioner to take action against the erring staff.

Accordingly, the municipal commissioner initiated an inquiry into the matter. It was found that the school records had been manipulated by Vasanti Ganu to facilitate the bogus school leaving certificates.

The scrutiny committee for tribal claims had confiscated the documents submitted by Pardeshi, declaring them invalid. It alsocontacted the Nashik city Hindu Mahadeo Koli Samaj Seva Mandal, which certified that Pardeshi did not belong to their community.

Pardeshi, incidentally, continues to be a corporator and a member of the Standing Committee of the Nashik Municipal Corporation.