Fake caste certificate case filed against former Mumbai corporator
Mumbai: A case has been registered at Chembur Police Station against a former municipal corporator for allegedly contesting elections using a fake caste certificate and defrauding the government as well as the public.
Based on a complaint, Chembur Police have registered a case against former corporator Ramesh Kamble under IPC Sections 193, 199, 406, 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470, and 471 for forgery, cheating, and criminal breach of trust. Further investigation is underway.
According to police, the accused has been identified as Ramesh Suresh Kamble, a former corporator from Ward No. 192 (Borla North–Deonar Abattoir).
As per the complaint, Kamble contested the 2002 BMC elections from a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes by allegedly submitting a caste certificate claiming he belonged to the Hindu Mahar community. He won the election with 4,721 votes and served as corporator.
However, the runner-up candidate, Rajendra Vaman Waghmare, later raised objections and filed a complaint with the Divisional Caste Scrutiny Committee at Konkan Bhavan, Navi Mumbai. Following an inquiry, the committee, on November 11, 2005, concluded that Kamble did not belong to a Scheduled Caste but was a Christian by birth. The finding was based on documentary evidence, including school records and a baptism certificate from a church in Matunga.
The committee declared his caste certificate, issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Mulund, in 1998, invalid. Kamble challenged the decision in multiple courts, including the Small Causes Court, the Bombay High Court, and later the Supreme Court. However, all courts upheld the findings of the caste scrutiny committee.
Following his disqualification, Waghmare was declared elected and served as corporator for the remainder of the term. The complaint further alleges that Kamble knowingly used forged documents to obtain the caste certificate and subsequently contested and held public office from February 2002 to November 23, 2006, thereby gaining undue benefits.