Son Cheated With 'Fake Court Order' To 80-Year-Old Father

Octogenarian Rama Nand Sharma was so fed up by the harassment meted out by his son Roopesh and daughter-in-law Alka over the partition of their ancestral home in Palam that he approached the senior citizens' court and got an order on April 2 debarring the couple from the property.

However, Roopesh decided to try his luck before a civil court. Filing a suit for permanent injunction against his father, Roopesh submitted to the additional district judge a judgment dated May 9 which showed that the additional district magistrate of senior citizens court had stayed the previous order.

Taking this into account, ADJ Lal Singh had almost given the couple a favourable order allowing them to take possession of a part of the property till Rama Nand's lawyer Gaganpreet Singh raised suspicion about the stay order.

He noted that the stay order's headline had two glaring spelling mistakes and it read 'STEY' (sic) ORDER 'AGAINEST' (sic). "A judge who should be highly educated cannot commit this mistake," he said. The seal of the ADM court was also smaller than the usual. Singh approached the senior citizens court for verification of the order.

To his shock, the lawyer was told that there was no proceeding in the case on May 9 and the court did not even sit on that day. This meant that the couple had procured a fake order to hoodwink the civil court and get an order in their favour.

"We have heard about fake documents and forged notary attestations. But this is the first time I am hearing about a fake judgment," Gaganpreet said.

Losing no time, Rama Nand initiated steps to lodge a criminal case against Roopesh and Alka. The elderly citizen ran from pillar to post, knocked the doors of the station house officer (SHO), the police commissioner and also the Economic Offences Wing but all his requests for an FIR fell on deaf ears.

The octogenarian's lawyer called the bluff when he pointed two glaring spelling errors in the order's headline.Finally, he knocked the doors of a metropolitan magistrate in Dwarka who directed the police to lodge an FIR under Sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (dishonestly using a forged document) of IPC against the couple.

"When the complainant got this order verified, he found there was no such order. Copy of the letter dated May 26 issued by the ADM south west district is on record to this effect. Hence, it is stated that the accused committed forgery and, hence, they be prosecuted as per the law. In the action taken report filed by the IO, time was sought to verify the same. However, as mentioned above the same has already been verified by the complainant. In view of the same, the alleged forgery is apparent and investigation is required in this matter," Metropolitan Magistrate Ruchika Singla noted.

Accordingly, an FIR was lodged by the SHO Dwarka in this connection. "The accused persons have prepared a false document to obtain a favourable order in a civil matter and grab a property. They are well aware that they are using the forged documents as a genuine document," the FIR said.