Man held guilty of cheating erstwhile Indian Airlines for job

A Delhi court has convicted a man for intentionally deceiving the erstwhile Indian Airlines by using a forged caste certificate to obtain a job in 2002.
The court held Delhi resident Vinod Mahto, who was arrested after a certificate verification drive was held by the airline office following a Delhi High Court circular in 2007, guilty of offences under sections 420 (cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of IPC.
He was, however, acquitted of the offence of forgery as it could not be proved that he had himself prepared the fake caste certificate.
"It becomes amply clear that the caste certificate was a forged and fabricated document and the same was intentionally used by the accused person with the intention to deceive Indian Airlines to give him the job. No evidence was led by the accused person in order to rebut the evidence...

"Though, it is clear that the accused used the said forged and fabricated caste certificate despite full knowledge of the same but it has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was prepared by the accused himself," Metropolitan Magistrate Rohit Gulia said.
The offences for which the accused has been held guilty entail a maximum jail term of seven years and fine.

According to the prosecution, a complaint was lodged in 2007 by the then Vigilance Officer of Air India office at Delhi's IGI Airport that on the directions of High Court, a circular has been received regarding verification of caste certificates based on which jobs were given.

An enquiry was conducted and the caste certificate pertaining to Mahto, who was working as a helping engineer since 2002, was found fabricated, it said.
During the trial, the accused had denied the allegations and claimed innocence.