Gujarat infrastructure firm ‘forged state govt documents to claim payment for railway project’, FIR filed
Police booked Ranjit Buildcon Limited (RBL) over a year after a senior clerk in a govt geologist’s office in Kutch filed a complaint alleging the forgery.
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As per the FIR, the then Anjar geologist Pranav Singh issued a no-due certificate to RBL on September 16, 2022, for 5.40 lakh metric tonnes of black trap and 35,721 tonnes of sand RBL had mined for the railway project. (Representational Image) Kutch East police in Kutch district have booked Ranjit Buildcon Limited (RBL), a well-known infrastructure company which was among the firms that had purchased electoral bonds, for allegedly forging documents of the Gujarat government’s industries and mines department to claim payment from the government for a railway project in Kutch.
The FIR came more than a year after Juvansinh Dabhi, a senior clerk in a geologist’s Kutch East office of the geology and mining department in Anjar town in Kutch, filed an application complaint at Anjar police station on May 25, 2023.
In his application, Dabhi had alleged that Dipesh Sorathiya, an executive of RBL, forged seals and signatures of the geologist of Kutch East for forging two no-due certificates and a letter.
The private firm then allegedly submitted the three forged documents to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) as genuine, in connection with a contract it had executed.
RBL had won an RVNL tender worth Rs 169.4 crores for the construction of the roadbed, bridges, supply of ballast, installation of track, electrical (general electrification), signalling and telecommunication work for the doubling of 34.66 km-long railway track between Samakhiyali and Kidiyanagar in Kutch.
As per the FIR, the then Anjar geologist Pranav Singh issued a no-due certificate to RBL on September 16, 2022, for 5.40 lakh metric tonnes of black trap and 35,721 tonnes of sand RBL had mined for the railway project. The company had applied for for the no-due certificate on May 7, 2021.
“However, the RBL submitted to RVLN a no-due certificate mentioning that the former had mined 6.38 lakh metric tonnes of black trap and 48,613.72 tonnes of sand. Not only that, it also submitted to RVNL another no-due certificate for 4.44 lakh cubic metres of ordinary clay and a letter confirming issuance of the no-due certificates,” Dabhi told The Indian Express, adding, “The matter came to light when RVNL, a Central government undertaking which undertakes infrastructure projects on behalf of Indian Railways, wrote to our office on November 21, 2022, for the verification of the certificates.”
Late on Monday evening, an FIR was filed at Anjar police station against RBL and Sorathiya under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 465 (forgery) 467( forgery of valuable documents) 468 (forgery of documents for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
After the geologist’s office came to know about the alleged forgery, the FIR states, the geologist’s office served a notice to the RBL for an in-person hearing. “In response, Rakesh Bala, a representative of Ranjit Buildcon Limited remained present. He gave an oral and written undertaking that he was ready to pay a penalty for the difference in the amount of minerals mentioned in documents of our office and those submitted by them (RBL) to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited in Ahmedabad. However, he didn’t give any explanation about the forged documents,” reads the FIR.
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