ALAPPUZHA: A clerical staff member of St: Thomas High School, Thumboly here, who forged a salary certificate to get a loan of Rs 25 lakh from the Mararikulam branch of Vijaya Bank a month ago, is still at large. The police had filed an FIR against the accused Babu Athipozhiyil based on a complaint filed by headmistress Margaret James on April 26 that he had forged her signature.
The forgery came to light when the bank manager called up the headmistress to know about the authenticity of the signature in the salary certificate produced by Babu. She immediately registered a case with the police. He had only a few weeks left to retire from service. A section of people has decided to register a complaint with the DEO to take departmental action against him. One of them said that the accused was about to retire and had utilised his political clout to avoid punishment. He is also a close relative of Bishop Stephan Athipozhiyil, they said.
According sources, Babu was involved in many fraudulent activities in the past as well using his political patronage. He was charged under the sections 165 (public servant misusing his office), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 471 (using as genuine a forged document which is known to be forged) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Mr Sivakumar, north sub-inspector, said that they were still investigating the case.
