Priest arrested in Bengaluru for submitting fake surety in nine cases, charged up to Rs 20,000

Bengaluru: The Halasuru Gate police have arrested a 66-year-old priest for submitting forged documents to act as surety in nine different criminal cases before a Bengaluru city civil court.

MH Nagaraju, also known as Achari, a priest at an Anjaneya temple in Kudur, Magadi taluk, allegedly submitted fabricated RTC extracts, land records, and fake identity documents in the name of one Shivakumar to secure bail for multiple accused persons.

The fraud came to light during verification of the revenue records submitted before the CCH-65 court in connection with a sessions case.

Accused M H Nagaraju

Preliminary inquiries revealed that Nagaraju had allegedly impersonated a landowner and submitted forged documents to stand surety in at least nine cases.

Acting on the court’s directions, police registered cases of cheating, forgery, and impersonation against him. Following a tip-off, Nagaraju was arrested on Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody.

Investigations further revealed that Nagaraju had been using his identity to stand surety for accused persons in several criminal cases, charging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 per case. In some instances, he allegedly collaborated with advocates to facilitate the process.

Notably, he had previously stood surety for an MLA in a criminal case, for which he was arrested by city police at the time.

“We are verifying how many such cases he has been involved in,” a senior police officer said.