A forged signature that worked but didn't pay

A contract employee of the horticulture department used forgery and fakery to successfully facilitate the transfer of a government official. But police arrested him before he could extract money from the beneficiary.

B Basavalingaiah, 45, is accused of forging the signature of S R Vishwanath, the political secretary to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, and creating his fake letterhead.

He landed in police net after Vishwanath, who is also the Yelahanka MLA, learnt about the forgery and filed a complaint.

The police quoted Basavalingaiah as saying that he did it all for money.

The root of the forgery lies in the transfer of Chandrakanth B K, an assistant secretary in the Chikkaballapur zilla panchayat. Chandrakanth had been looking for a transfer to Bengaluru and had passed the word around. Basavalingaiah learnt about it and decided to make a fast buck.

He created a fake letterhead in Vishwanath’s name, forged the latter’s signature and wrote to the chief minister’s office (CMO), recommending that Chandrakanth be transferred to Bengaluru as he has to take care of his aged parents. The letter worked, and the CMO forwarded it to the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department for consideration.

Chandrakanth was subsequently transferred to the Bengaluru Urban zilla panchayat as assistant project officer-01, in the place of one Vittal Kavale.

Curiously, police said Chandrakanth didn’t even know about the recommendation letter as Basavalingaiah hadn’t yet approached him for money.