Belagavi: In a major recruitment fraud case, the second JMFC court in Belagavi has convicted four individuals for securing village accountant posts by submitting forged Class 12 marks cards. The court sentenced each of them to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 19,000.The convicted are Raju Venkateshappa T of Anehalli, Mohankumar Chandrappa of Kunnibandi, Manjunath Baichappa of Madderi, and Balkrishna Venkatappa of Anehalli, all from Mulbagal taluk in Kolar district.According to the prosecution, the Belagavi deputy commissioner had invited online applications for vacant village accountant posts in the revenue department on Sept 6, 2012. During the recruitment process, the accused allegedly procured forged II PUC (Class 12) marks cards from an unidentified person in Bengaluru, showing inflated scores to secure higher positions on the merit list.Based on the fabricated documents, they were appointed as village accountants. The fraud came to light during verification of their credentials, following which then deputy commissioner N Jayaram lodged a complaint with the Market police station.Police registered a case and carried out a detailed investigation, which revealed that the accused had used forged educational certificates to obtain government jobs. A chargesheet was subsequently filed before the second judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Court. After examining the evidence, the court found all four accused guilty and sentenced them to imprisonment and fines.
