A police investigation is on into the suspected forging of a number of building completion certificates in the name of the Town Planning Department and its unlawful submission to the Revenue Department for securing building numbers.
The alleged trickery came to light when officials of the Town Planning Department re-examined a completion certificate which was returned by the Revenue Department citing serious flaws.
The police said that they had incriminating evidence that the certificates had been forged by a private agency that prepared building plans for the owners and approached the corporation for processing the building number request.
Computers seized
As part of the investigation, computers and other accessories allegedly used by the agency for preparing the documents were seized from its office on Thursday.
The Town Planning Department took up the issue as the forged documents carried the signatures and office seals of all authorised signatories.
The officials also came across two similar incidents, following which they filed a petition at the Town police station for a detailed investigation.
“We will be able to prove the trickery only by examining the seized computers and accessories with the support of experts.
“Also, the investigation squad will be checking whether there was any suspicious involvement on the part of any corporation official in facilitating the submission of such a forged file,” said Circle Inspector A. Umesh, who is also the station house officer at the Town station.
Meanwhile, Revenue Department sources said that the trickery was adopted by the agency as the corporation authorities were quite firm on taking action against unauthorised constructions within the city limits.
Building inspectors and assistant engineers had even turned down several applications citing violation of approved plans, which might have provoked a few to adopt trickery to secure building numbers for their clients and regularise constructions, they added.
