New Delhi: It’s perhaps a sign of the times, quite literally, that a man accused of forging the signature of former prime minister late Rajiv Gandhi nearly 20 years ago has been finally sentenced.
Madhur Kishore Bhatnagar was has been sent to two years' imprisonment by a Delhi court that confirmed the lower court verdict. Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Gupta, upheld Bhatnagar’s conviction and also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.
Bhatnagar was accused of fabricating a letter with forged signature of the then prime minister which was posted to the President in July, 1985. According to the CBI, the letter contained a demand of Rs 80 lakh by late Rajiv Gandhi from one Inspector of State Bank of India named D K Jain.
The letter – the copies of which were also allegedly sent to few newspapers for giving wide publicity - was supposedly posted with an intent to harm his reputation. CBI, after conducting a preliminary investigation, filed a chargesheet against Bhatnagar, a resident of Moradabad in UP, in February, 1988.
He had approached the Sessions court against the verdict of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, who had in March, 2005, sentenced him to two years' imprisonment after finding him guilty under various provisions of the IPC including Sections 417 (cheating), 469 (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation) and 471 (using forged documents).
(With PTI inputs)
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