Cuttack: Lalbagh police on Wednesday registered a case against an assistant professor of Ravenshaw University for allegedly forging an election officer‘s signature to skip poll duty during the 2019 general elections. The case was lodged following a complaint lodged by district collector Dattatreya Bhausaheb Shinde.
According to the police, the assistant professor had sought 11 days leave from the university registrar to attend a refresher course at a university in Rajasthan. She submitted a letter, purportedly signed by the district deputy election officer, requesting relief from election duty from April 9-19, 2019.
“The letter and signature were found to be forged. No such permission was ever granted by the deputy election officer,” DCP (Cuttack) Jagmohan Meena said on Wednesday.
When contacted, Ravenshaw University vice-chancellor Sanjay Nayak said, “It’s an administrative matter and the registrar is the right person to answer.” Registrar Kahnu Charan Mallick declined to comment while the assistant professor’s phone was switched off.
The matter came to light when authorities discovered that the certificate submitted by the assistant professor, claiming to have attended the refresher course, was found to be also suspicious. “We have informed the professor to provide details. Further action will be taken as per law,” Meena added.