Surat police Thursday launched a probe against three cleaning staff of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) who were dismissed last year for securing the job by allegedly hiding their qualification. The police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by Dhaval Modi, who works in the personnel department of the civic body, against Rahul Makwana, Hitesh Patel and Vipul Patel at the Surat city Lalgate police station. The complainant alleged that the three accused, who were all class 12 graduates, hid their qualification and produced fake documents saying they were class 7 pass-outs to secure the SMC job. While Makwana got the job in 2013, Hitesh and Vipul were appointed in 2019. The SMC advertisement for the recruitment of cleaning personnel had mandated a minimum qualification of class 4 and maximum of class 9. The incident came to light during a vigilance investigation into the civic body. The three accused were suspended and dismissed from the job on July 17 last year. “The three employees had also submitted declarations with the forms about the information and documents they had submitted to the SMC for the job. Our vigilance team also collected class 12 certificates of the three employees from the school in which they had studied, as evidence," SMC employee Rakesh Modi said. Based on Modi's complaint, the Lalgate police has registered a case under IPC sections 193 (punishment for false evidence), 196 (using evidence known to be false), 198 (using as true, a certificate known to be false), 199 (false statement made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence), 200 (using as true, such declaration knowing it to be false) and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust). “We have also sent our teams to catch all the three dismissed employees of SMC," said Lalgate police inspector N M Chaudhary.
