INDORE: An IAS officer was arrested in Indore late Saturday night, on the complaint of a judge, for allegedly forging two court orders related to a case against him for alleged ‘criminal intimidation’ of a woman. Santosh Verma, 51, is accused of using the forged documents to get promoted from state cadre to IAS.
It’s the first time that an IAS officer has been arrested in Madhya Pradesh on such a charge. The complaint against the bureaucrat was filed by judicial magistrate (first class) Bijendra Singh Rawat, who was hearing the criminal intimidation case against him, SP Ashutosh Bagri told TOI.
Verma, an additional commissioner with urban administration department, was arrested by MG Road police after 12 hours of sustained interrogation. “He had produced forged orders for his promotion to IAS cadre. But on the date mentioned in the orders, the judge was on leave,” SP Bagri said.
The IAS officer was produced before a local court on Sunday and judge Dilip Parmar remanded him in police custody till July 14.
IAS OFFICER HELD
Cops wonder how ‘fake’ order ended up in court records
The earlier case against Verma dates back four years when police in Indore’s Lasudia booked him for ‘voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation and circulation of obscene material’ on the complaint of a woman.
In 2020, the departmental promotion committee (DPC) was considering awarding IAS cadre to Verma, who was then zilla panchayat CEO in Dhar district, but queries inevitably came up on the pending criminal case.
Verma allegedly produced a ‘settlement order’ on the dispute with the woman, and then the ‘attested copy of an acquittal order’, dated October 6, which he presented on October 8.
In routine follow-up, the department sent the orders to the office of inspector general police to check if an appeal could be filed against the acquittal. The district prosecution office (DPO) checked court records and found that there was indeed an order – but it was a single order for settlement and acquittal while Verma had allegedly produced two orders. Going by the order in the records, the DPO sent a report that appeal can’t be filed in the case.
Word spread and the woman got to know of it. She wrote to the chief secretary, saying there had been no court ruling regarding settlement or acquittal. The chief secretary asked the IG to probe it.
The investigation was still on when judge Rawat filed a formal complaint with police on June 27.
On Saturday, Verma deposed before police in the presence of his lawyer. Investigators say he tried to pass the blame to the woman, alleging that she had given him the forged orders, but his claim fell flat when it was revealed that it was she who had moved court, leading to discovery of the forgery. He was arrested under IPC sections 420, 467,468, 471 and 120-B for fraud, forgery, criminal conspiracy, and fraudulently using a document as genuine.
Police have also seized documents Verma had carried to the interrogation to prove the ‘authenticity of the orders’. His phone gave clues to how the forgery was perpetrated, said officers, adding that they will question those who helped him in the crime. Police are investigating how a fake order got into the court records.
Originally a resident of Barwani district, Verma has served as ADM-Barwani and deputy collector in Ujjain. He has held administrative posts in Harda, Shajapur, Rajgarh districts as well.
