MCD gardener held for forging CMO letters

A gardener employed on a contractual basis with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been arrested for allegedly forging letters on the official letterhead of the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office to cheat patients seeking free treatment in private hospitals under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

According to the police, the 27-year-old accused, Sonu, targeted poor patients outside private hospitals who could not afford costly treatment. He used to promise them to arrange approval letters from the CM’s Office for Rs 5,000 per patient. He also impersonated a government official over the phone to convince hospitals to admit patients under the EWS quota.

The case came to light after Maharaja Agrasen Hospital sent an email to the CM’s Office seeking confirmation about one such letter. The hospital also received a document bearing the name of “Anil Aggarwal, Officer-in-Charge, CM Office, Delhi.” It even got a phone call from a person identifying himself as “Balbir Singh Rathee” from the CM Office. The caller allegedly directed the hospital to provide treatment to a patient, Shyam Shankar, under the EWS category.

The hospital authorities grew suspicious after noticing spelling errors, inconsistent fonts and poor alignment in the letter. They reported the matter to the CM’s Office, which confirmed that the document was fake. Officer on Special Duty (OSD) SC Vashishtha subsequently lodged a complaint at the Civil Lines police station.

A case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered. A team, led by Civil Lines SHO Inspector Hanumant Singh, and supervised by ACP Vikas Meena, was constituted to trace the accused.

During the probe, the police questioned Shyam Shankar, who revealed that his wife had received the letter from a man named Sonu. Technical surveillance on the mobile number used to contact the hospital led the police to the MCD office in Karol Bagh, where Sonu was employed.

A raid was conducted on October 29, but Sonu managed to flee, leaving behind his bag and a motorcycle. The police recovered a fake MCD identity card, multiple forged CM Office letters and other incriminating documents from the bag.

On October 30, the police traced Sonu to Double Storey, Tagore Garden, and arrested him. His phone contained multiple SIM cards used for making impersonation calls to hospitals. During interrogation, he admitted to using a stolen CM Office letterhead to create forged letters using Google Translate to insert patient details. The police recovered a mobile phone with two SIM cards, an original CM Office letter, several fake letters, fake MCD and Haryana government ID cards and a motorcycle with a tampered registration plate.

Originally from Jhajjar, Haryana, Sonu dropped out of school after his father’s death in 1999. He previously worked as a gardener and watchman in Bahadurgarh before moving to Delhi in 2023.