LI Network
Published on: 09 August 2023 at 13:19 IST
A 48-year-old teacher hailing from Maharashtra’s Akola district has been handed a three-year rigorous imprisonment sentence for fabricating a counterfeit court letter under his name, aimed at discontinuing alimony payments to his spouse.
The convicted individual, Santosh Ingle, currently employed in a school situated in Sindhudurg district, is a resident of Navegaon within the confines of Akola district.
First Class Judicial Magistrate K K Kurandale presiding over the court at Patur in Akola district pronounced Ingle guilty under Section 248 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code. This decision came as a consequence of his violation of Section 468 of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to forgery for the purpose of cheating.
The court had initially decreed Ingle to remit a monthly alimony of Rs 3,000 in December 2016 and entrusted the task of deducting the stipulated amount from his monthly earnings to the Kudal Sindhudurg block development officer, as stated by the prosecution.
The act of forgery came to light in August 2018 when the court requisitioned a status report regarding alimony disbursements from the headmaster of the school where Ingle was employed.
Upon review of the report submitted by the headmaster, which indicated the cessation of the Rs 3,000 deduction in accordance with the court’s directive, the court initiated an inquiry.
Subsequent investigations unveiled that no such order had been issued by the court and the correspondence received by the school was indeed a fabrication. In response, a case was registered against Ingle in December 2020 on charges of forgery and cheating, as communicated by the prosecution.
Throughout the trial, a total of 11 witnesses were examined to ascertain the veracity of the case.
