UP: Dental surgeon in judicial custody for forging Smriti Irani's signatures

LUCKNOW: A dental surgeon was sent to jail in judicial custody by a local court in Sultanpur for allegedly forging signatures of Union minister Smriti Irani on a fake document related to the appointment of international shooter Vartika Singh as a member of the National Women's Commission (NCW).The court proceedings came in connection with the November 23, 2020 FIR lodged by Vijay Gupta, an aide of Irani, Union minister for women and child welfare. In the FIR, lodged with the Musafirkhana police station in Amethi, Gupta had accused Vartika and former Congress MP Kamal Kishore Commando of circulating prima facie bogus documents on social media to malign the image of the Union minister. In the documents, Vartika Singh had alleged that Vijay Gupta had duped her of Rs 25 lakh assuring her appointment as a member of the National Women’s Commission (NCW) through the Union minister.In charge of the Musafirkhana police station inspector Parshuram Ojha told TOI that during investigations, it came to the fore that the documents circulated by Vartika Singh with the help of the former MP, were actually prepared by a dental surgeon Dr Rajnish Kumar in connivance with Vartika Singh with the intention to target the image of the Union minister.“We had filed a chargesheet against Vartika Singh, Dr Rajnish Kumar under the charges of dishonesty, forgery, forgery of valuable documents,” said Ojha. Once the chargesheet was filed Dr Rajnish Kumar reportedly went underground after which police approached the court seeking a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him.Ojha said that on Friday, the dentist surrendered before the court as the police had mounted pressure by initiating proceedings to attach his property. Dr Rajnish Kumar appeared before the court of special judge MP / MLA PK Jayant which sent him to judicial custody till September 17.Meanwhile, Vartika Singh has also filed a petition in the court stating that she is also a victim in the case.