Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has given approval to prosecute IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai in the case of forging signatures of two chief secretaries. Udit Prakash Rai, a 2007 batch IAS officer (AGMUT cadre) was the Director (Education) of Delhi from August 2020 to October 2021.
Udit Prakash Rai is accused of allegedly forging the signatures of the Chief Secretaries of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Administration on his Appraisal Performance Annual Reports (APAR- Annual Performance Appraisal Reports) during various periods of his posting. Rai is accused of forging signatures of two chief secretaries in his Appraisal Performance Annual Reports (APAR) between 2017 and 2021.
The Lieutenant Governor has recommended sending the matter to the Home Ministry for further action. A criminal case of forgery under section 465/471 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Rai at the IP Estate police station.
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Who is Udit Rai?
Rai is currently under suspension in another corruption case, in which he is also accused of taking bribe from an engineer while holding the post of vice-chairman of Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board. When Rai was serving as CEO of Delhi Jal Board, he was also accused of demolishing a heritage structure to construct his Rs 5 crore official residence in Delhi’s Jal Vihar
forged signatures several times
According to the Vigilance Directorate, between April 2017 and March 2018, Rai had also forged the signatures of Anindo Majumdar in the Andaman and Nicobar Administration and the then Chief Secretary of the Review Authority, Andaman and Nicobar. From April 2019 to July 2019, when he was posted as District Magistrate, Rai forged the signatures of Vikram Dev Dutt, then Principal Secretary (Revenue) in the reporting authority, Andaman, and Chetan Bhushan Sanghi, the then chief secretary of the reviewing authority.
Later, he was transferred to Delhi as Director of the Education Department. While posted in Delhi between August 2020 and March 2021, Rai forged the signatures of his reporting authorities H Rajesh Prasad, the then Principal Secretary of Education, and Vijay Kumar Dev, the then Chief Secretary of Delhi.
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Investigation revealed that Udit Rai had deliberately filled his appraisal performance annual reports not online through its portal but manually. However, top officials, Anindo Majumdar and Vijay Kumar Dev, refused to review Rai’s reports and confirmed that the signatures were forged. A forensic report also confirmed that the signatures did not match those of the officers.