BJP corporator booked for fraud

BJP corporator booked for fraud
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NASHIK, MARCH 17: A BJP corporator, Rajendra Ramlakhan Pardeshi, has been booked for producing forged documents while contesting the civic polls in 1997 as a Scheduled Tribe candidate. According to a complaint filed by a civic official on behalf of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), Pardeshi had submitted bogus documents while contesting the polls from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The Panchavati police have registered an offence under sections 420, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code. The complaint has been filed following directions from the urban development department of the state government. The government has asked the NMC to prosecute Pardeshi for forgery and also pass a resolution to disqualify him under Sections 10 and 13 of the Bombay Provincial Municipality Act 1949.

Pardeshi had contested the civic polls held in 1997 from Ward No. 33, which was reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates. After he was elected, a rival candidate, Manjula Wale (Congress) had challenged his claims of belonging to a scheduled tribe.

Subsequently, the caste certificates verification committee at the tribal development commissionerate had investigated into the matter and found that the caste documents submitted by Pardeshi were fake. Accordingly, in February last year, the committee had informed the state government and the NMC, advocating criminal proceedings against Pardeshi and his disqualification.