Ahmedabad: In a development that could snowball into a criminal case, the Ahmedabad District Education Officer (DEO) has directed a school to file a police complaint of forgery against newly elected Congress corporator Kalpana Kodekar after an official probe found that the school leaving certificate (LC) she submitted was bogus.
The directive came after an inquiry led by DEO Rohit Chaudhary into allegations that the certificate submitted by Kodekar — elected from Kubernagar ward — was fabricated. The complaint was initially raised by Motera resident Chirag Shah, who sought verification of the document's authenticity.
According to officials, the certificate in question claimed that Kalpana Surajbhai Navlekar (now Kodekar) studied at Krishnanagar Vidhya Vihar Higher Secondary School and left in 1990. However, the inquiry found glaring discrepancies. The GR number and LC number cited in the document were traced to entirely different individuals — Hasmukh Chavda and Ankit Soni — indicating that the certificate did not originate from the school's official records.
Further scrutiny revealed that the signature on the document was allegedly forged and bore no resemblance to any authorised signatory in the school's archives. "The document was verified through an inspector in coordination with the school. Prima facie, it is not issued by the institution and appears bogus," Chaudhary said, adding that the school management has been instructed to lodge a police complaint.
The school, in its report to the DEO, has also confirmed that it never issued such a certificate and flagged the use of a fake signature.
Despite the directive, no FIR had been registered till late Monday, with the onus now on the school management to initiate criminal proceedings.
The controversy has cast a shadow over Kodekar's recent electoral win from Kubernagar — a ward that drew attention in the civic polls for electing three women corporators, including her as a Congress representative.
