Rajkot: The local crime branch (LCB) sleuths exposed a fake driving licence racket and arrested a 25-year-old man who had allegedly cheated hundreds of villagers by posing as an RTO agent.The accused, Kishan Natavarlal alias Natu Somaiya, a resident of Kalyanpur, had built familiarity with residents by helping postal employees distributing articles in remote villages. Police said he used this access to gain people’s trust and target unsuspecting and uneducated villagers.Somaiya allegedly promised to provide driving licences without the mandatory RTO tests and charged between Rs 3,000 and Rs 8,000 per applicant.“His modus operandi was to take Aadhaar cards, photographs and signature samples with the payments. He would photograph genuine licences, edit them to insert the victims’ details and print and laminate them to resemble authentic RTO-issued documents,” said N H Joshi, in-charge police inspector of the LCB.Investigators estimate Somaiya forged between 300 and 400 learning and permanent licences, causing losses to both the public and the govt.The racket came to light after a tip-off was received, based on which Somaiya was apprehended in the Kalyanpur police station jurisdiction. During a raid at his residence, police recovered 12 forged driving licences.Police said Somaiya had initially come to the area to meet a friend before starting to assist postmen and eventually running the racket.Police issued a public advisory urging those who obtained licences through Somaiya to come forward and cooperate with the investigation.
