Delhi LG grants sanction for prosecution of IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai in signature forgery case

New Delhi [India], August 8 (ANI): Delhi LG VK Saxena has granted sanction for the prosecution of IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai for allegedly forging the signatures of the Chief Secretaries of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Administration, on his Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (APAR) during different periods of his posting.

The LG has also recommended the case to the MHA for further action.

According to an official statement from the LG office, Rai, a 2007 IAS officer had forged the signatures of his reviewing authority, i.e. the Chief Secretary of A&N and Delhi between 2017 and 2021. A criminal case of forgery under sections 465/471 IPC has been registered against Rai at IP Estate Police Station, on the complaint of Special Secretary (Vigilance), GNCTD.

“Further upon his transfer to Delhi, Rai was posted as Director (Education) in the GNCTD and was considered a close confidant of the Kejriwal-led AAP Government. In the successive APARs for the period from August 31, 2020, to March 31, 2021, Rai forged the signatures of his reporting authority, H Rajesh Prasad, the then Principal Secretary (Education), GNCTD, and the signature of the reviewing authority, Vijay Kumar Dev, the then Chief Secretary of Delhi,” the statement read.

The Statement from the LG office added that during the investigation, it came to light that Udit Rai, deliberately filled his APARs manually and not online, through the SPARROW Portal, citing technical glitches. However, during the inquiry, two officers, namely Anindo Majumdar and Vijay Kumar Dev, denied having reviewed the APARs of Rai and confirmed that the signatures on his APARs were forged.

Even the FSL report confirmed that the specimen signatures and handwritings of Anindo Majumdar and Vijay Kumar Dev did not match with those on Rai’s APARs.

“Accordingly, the matter was earlier placed before the LG, and viewing the seriousness he had recommended for initiating disciplinary and criminal action against Rai, now posted in Mizoram and under suspension. Also, since Rai is posted outside Delhi, his case was not required to be routed through NCCSA,” it said.

It may be noted that Rai is under suspension in another corruption matter wherein he was charged with taking graft money from an engineer in the Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board while serving as its Vice-Chairman. He has also been charged with demolishing a heritage structure for construction of his official residence in Delhi’s Jal Vihar, while he was serving as the CEO of DJB, at a whopping cost of Rs 5 crores.