Mumbai, Sep 7 A court here has denied bail to two brothers held for allegedly running a racket to secure railway reservations by forging letterheads, stamps, and signatures of the Maharashtra Governor's office.
Additional Sessions Judge S B Dige, in an order passed on September 3, held that it was a "serious offence" and that granting bail at this stage could impede a fair and thorough probe.
According to the prosecution, the racket came to light after the railway department sought verification for VIP quota reservation requests purportedly sent by the Governor's office (Lok Bhavan).
An assistant at Lok Bhavan found that the signatures, letterheads, and official seals used in the reservation slips were forged, leading to a case being registered at Malabar Hill police station, it said.
Later, police arrested two Ghatkopar-based siblings Amrish Ishwarlal Thakkar (41) and Sagar Ishwarlal Thakkar (32) under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for offences like cheating, forgery, and destruction of evidence.
Additional public prosecutor Veena Shelar submitted that Amrish Thakkar procured digital copies of the official letterhead of the Governor's PA and fabricated rubber stamps with the help of co-accused.
He allegedly filled out PNR details in his own handwriting on the forged letterheads, affixed bogus stamps, and dropped the requisitions into the railway reservation drop-box to confirm tickets under emergency VIP quotas, the prosecution said.
Investigators told the court that the syndicate managed to get over 400 train tickets confirmed using fake letterheads of Lok Bhavan and nearly 23 other government departments.
The police recovered 10 forged letterheads, computer hard disks, and multiple fabricated rubber stamps from the accused.
Advocate Anjali Patil, appearing for the applicants, contended that the accused were falsely implicated.
Their names were not in the initial FIR, and all relevant material, including documents and specimen signatures, had already been seized by the police, Patil argued.
The court, after hearing both sides, held that the possibility of the accused tampering with evidence, influencing witnesses, or absconding could not be ruled out given the gravity of the charges.
