26-Year-Old Newly-Wed Man Forges Covid Positive Report To Stay Away From Wife

A 26-year-old Indian man allegedly forged a Covid-19 report showing that he had contracted the virus in order to stay away from his newly-wed wife in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The man was held for forgery and other offences.

The man, a resident of Mhow, and the woman had tied the knot in February this year. For a personal reason he wanted to stay away from his wife, so he decided to take the fraudulent step. He went to the website of a private laboratory and downloaded a Covid-19 positive report of another infected person from it and penciled in his name, Chhoti Gwaltoli police station in charge Sanjay Shulka said on Monday, reported Zee News.

"He sent the forged report through WhatsApp to his father and wife and then disappeared from his home," he said.

But the accused couldn't hide his lie for long as his family started suspecting him. "Family members got suspicious as he had not shown any symptom of the infection. When they contacted the private laboratory, the accused's fraudulent act was revealed," said Shulka.

On the basis of a complaint by the laboratory, the man was arrested for forgery and other offences. The accused has been served a notice to appear before police as per the requirement of the investigation, the official shared.

In a separate incident in Madhya Pradesh, a forest deputy ranger was suspended from service for allegedly producing forged documents to get promotion, an official said on Sunday, according to New Indian Express. However, deputy ranger R.S. Dubey claimed that the action was taken as he had complained against MP Culture Minister Usha Thakur earlier this year for allegedly not letting him perform his official duty.

"A staffer, Mukesh Yadav, had submitted a written complaint against Dubey, stating that the latter produced forged documents for getting promoted as deputy ranger from forest guard," Divisional Forest Officer, Indore, Narendra Pandya said. "The allegation was found correct following which the deputy ranger was suspended from service a few days ago," the official added.

Dubey said that he will move court against the suspension order. "Some teams had visited forest compartments falling under my jurisdiction in search of any encroachments on forestland, but they were not able to find any. Finally, they have suspended me on this very old issue of forged documents on an allegation of one of my colleagues,” he added.