Rape suspect skipped town on bail using fake papers, forgery discovered 2 years later

A rape suspect got out of jail over two years ago and skipped town after securing bail from a city court using documents forged in the name of a Nuh resident, police said Friday.

Police said the matter came to fore only after the Nuh resident, Sabarjeet Chand (44), received a court notice on September 25 asking him to appear before the court on September 29.

Police said Chand reached Gurugram to find that his Aadhaar card and land deeds had been fraudulently used and submitted as surety to secure the bail of a rape suspect who was allowed out on bail more than two years ago.

Police said they are trying to trace him and the unidentified man who bailed him out by submitting forged documents.

Police said he had not appeared before the court for several hearings after which the records of the person who had submitted surety for his bail bond were searched and Chand was issued a notice to appear before the court on September 29.

Chand said a court staff from Gurugram reached his residence in Nuh to serve him the notice.

“I was surprised as I had last visited Gurugram 22 years ago. I don’t have any relatives there. I arrived in Gurugram on the scheduled date and came to know that someone had used my Aadhaar card and land deeds to secure the bail of a man arrested in a rape case,” he said.

Chand said he carried all government-issued identity documents with him and produced them before the court.

“When I produced all documents before the court, the court officials realised that a forged Aadhaar card was submitted in the court to secure the bail -- it had my name and father’s name but the address, Aadhaar number and photographs were different. The court finally believed me and allowed me to go home after taking an affidavit from me,” he said.

Chand said he is a painter by profession and hardly earns ₹500 a day to make ends meet for his family comprising four children.

“I have never visited any court or a police station in my life. My entire Thursday was wasted and I could not earn anything. I have been tense since then,” he said.

An investigator said the rape suspect was arrested on charges of raping his sister-in-law in 2019 and the victim had got an FIR registered under section 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at Badshahpur police station.

“Charge sheet against the suspect was submitted on February 26, 2022. He came out on bail at least two and a half years ago on the basis of forged documents,” he said.

On Chand’s complaint, an FIR was registered under sections 120B, 177, 188, 419, 420, 466, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC at Shivaji Nagar police station on Thursday night, said police.

Inspector Sunder Pal, station house officer of Shivaji Nagar police station, said investigation is on in the case. “Police are trying to figure out how the forgers got hold of Chand’s ID,” he said.

At least three similar cases of suspects securing bail from Gurugram civil court using forged documents have been discovered in the past few months, said police.