This story is from May 8, 2021

Maharashtra: Man fakes appointment as Ratnagiri collector, held

Maharashtra: Man fakes appointment as Ratnagiri collector, held
Arjun Sankapal
Mumbai: A week ago, it was brought to the notice of Ratnagiri collector Laxminarayan Mishra that a letter appointing 35-year-old Arjun Sankapal as his replacement had gone viral. The brief order on the letterhead of the state government’s general administration department was in the usual format and signed by the deputy secretary (GAD).
Everything seemed in order, except that Mishra had not heard anything about a transfer.
He decided to take a closer look. The letter was found to be fake and he knocked on the doors of the police superintendent. An offence was registered against the Kolhapur-based Sankapal, who was arrested and later released on bail.
Officials are aghast at the audacity of Sankapal, who eyed a collector’s post based on a fake order. An inquiry revealed that Sankapal had been living a lie for a long time.
The arts graduate had attempted the civil services examination five years ago. He did not succeed, but he told his family he had passed and would soon take over as a district collector. A huge procession was taken out in his Karvir village in Kolhapur district to celebrate the achievement. After that he left Kolhapur district and would occasionally visit his village in swanky cars. He misled villagers, saying he had been appointed collector but never gave the name of the district.
From the days when he was preparing for his UPSC examination, Sankapal used to teach IAS and IPS aspirants. Subsequently, he got married to a student, whose father was a retired police officer, said a senior official. When his in-laws buttonholed him on his posting, he created four fake orders with the help of a friend in Kolhapur and pacified them.
The fake order for his appointment as Ratnagiri collector was made on the basis of past orders issued by the GAD. “He just inserted his own name in the appointment order signed by the deputy secretary,” the official said. The forgery was good enough for many in the Konkan region to believe Mishra had been transferred and Sankapal appointed in his place. Mishra, himself, finally burst Sankapal’s balloon.
Mishra refused to comment on the episode.
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