An IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh has been arrested for allegedly forging two orders of a local court acquitting him in a case of assault filed by a woman five years ago. The officer, Santosh Verma, was promoted to the IAS soon after he produced the purported court orders, and is currently additional commissioner in the Urban Administration and Development Department in Bhopal. The alleged fraud came to light after police in Indore opened an investigation after Judicial Magistrate First Class Vijendra Singh Rawat filed a complaint at the MG Road police station on June 27, stating that some unidentified people had made fraudulent documents of his court. A case was registered under IPC Sections 420 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). “During investigation it came to light that Magistrate Rawat had been on leave on the date the purported orders cited by Santosh Verma were passed. On Saturday, Verma was called for questioning,” Indore Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Bagri said on Sunday. “After evidence emerged suggesting Verma’s involvement in the matter, he was arrested and produced before the court. We have been granted Verma’s police custody until July 14,” the SP said. According to police, Verma’s promotion to the IAS had been held up due to the cases against him. On October 6 last year, Verma was asked to submit details of these pending cases. On October 8, Verma attached a purported order from Rawat’s court acquitting him in the matter, Bagri said. On October 15, Verma, who was then serving as CEO of Dhar district, was promoted to the IAS. He was posted to his current position in March 2021. Back in 2016, a woman had filed a complaint at Indore’s Lasudia police station, accusing Verma of assault, abuse, and criminal intimidation. Police sources said the woman, an LIC agent, had come to know Verma while he was posted as Upper Collector in Harda district in 2010. From 2016 onward, Verma and she filed cases against each other. Police are also questioning the District Prosecution Officer (DPO) of Indore who had been asked by the state government for an opinion on whether the case in which Verma had been purportedly acquitted, could be appealed. “The DPO was asked for his opinion and he, after going through the records of the case and the file, had submitted his report stating that the matter would not go into appeal, after which Verma was elevated,” Bagri said.
