Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NASHIK, Feb 16: It has been revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP corporator from Ward No 33, Ramchandra Ramlakhan Pardeshi, had forged8217; documents to get himself elected as a Scheduled Tribe candidate in the civic polls held in 1997, according to the scrutiny committee for verification of tribe claims.
The panel8217;s Nashik division today declared that Pardeshi does not belong to a Scheduled Tribe and that he had forged documents to contest the civic poll from a ward reserved for ST candidates.
Pardeshi now faces potential disqualification after being elected as a corporator two years ago. Incidentally, he was recently elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Nashik Municipal Corporation.
The scrutiny of documents submitted by Pardeshi was undertaken following complaints from an independent candidate, Manjulbai Dattatraya Wale, who was defeated at the hustings by Pardeshi.
According to the findings, Pardeshi, who had submitted documents claiming to belong to the Mahadeo Koli8217;, originally belongs to Ahir8217; community of Uttar Pradesh. The community is listed at an Other Backwrd Class OBC in UP. The certificate of Pardeshi8217;s father submitted to the authorities was issued by a sub-divisional officer/executive magistrate who has no authority to issue the same.
The documents submitted to establish the tribe of Pardeshi8217;s mother was found to have been issued after manipulating the school records of a municipal school in Chavhata, Nashik.
The investigations revealed thatthe entry of the caste of Pardeshi8217;s mother, Satyabhama, was of 1957 and that the entry was a malafide act by the concerned school staff of municipal school No 5, Chavhata in Nashik. The documents submitted by Pardeshi were found to be of recent period and could not be treated as conclusive proof.
Pardeshi had claimed that his father, Ramlakhan Sahdeo Pardeshi, had come to Nashik at the age of 15 years and that his Ramchandra8217;s grandfather and grandmother had died during his father8217;s childhood. Ramchandra had stated that he had no information about the place of death of his grand parents. Ramchandra also stated that his mother had no brothers or sisters and no relatives.
The scrutiny committee found that Ramchandra Pardeshi had avoided information revealing his original place of residence. Further, the Nashik Shahar Hindu Mahadeo Koli Samaj Seva Mandal submitted a representation to the Committee that Ramchandra Pardeshi and his father did not belong to the Mahadeo Koli community, which was recognisedas a Scheduled Tribe. The surname Pardeshi8217; does not figure in the Mahadeo Koli community.
