Pune: A 45-year-old transport operator allegedly procured a Maharashtra domicile certificate using fake documents and obtained a flat under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Bhosari.Pimpri Chinchwad police’s Anti-Terrorism Branch (ATB) on Thursday arrested the accused, while booking his wife and an agent under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Inspector V D Raut of the ATB said police received a tip-off that a family had obtained a flat under PMAY in Bhosari by submitting fake documents. “When we checked the list of beneficiaries, we found a woman’s name that is commonly used in North India. Upon questioning them, the woman and her husband produced their Maharashtra domicile certificates.”The husband also produced a salary slip from a company where he claimed to work. “We found the company belonged to his sister and that he had never worked there,” Raut said.Raut said during questioning, the accused admitted he was from Uttar Pradesh. With the help of an agent, he had obtained a fake school-leaving certificate from a junior college in Khadki and his father’s school-leaving certificate from a school in Dharashiv district to establish his Maharashtra domicile. “The agent also prepared fake documents for the accused’s wife and obtained Maharashtra domicile certificates for both of them in 2021. The accused already had a domicile certificate from Uttar Pradesh.”Police have written to Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) regarding the alleged fraud, as the flat had been allotted through it. Bhosari MIDC police are further investigating the case.
