Chhattisgarh Ranji captain presents forged documents for government job, booked

Harpreet Singh Bhatia, the captain of Chhattisgarh’s Ranji Trophy team, has been charged with obtaining a position in the office of principal accountant general audit in the state by presenting forged credentials, as was confirmed by the Police on Thursday.

An official claimed that the Vidhan Sabha police had filed a complaint against the 30-year-old Bhatia, a native of Balod district, for supposedly using a counterfeit mark sheet to acquire a job as an auditor/accountant in the Indian Audit Accounts Department Office of the Principal Accountant General Audit.

As per the Deccan Herald, the official informed that the department had sought candidates from the cricket cadre for the position of auditor/accountant in 2014. Bhatia was invited for field trials after a preliminary assessment of the verified documents he presented and was picked in the probable list of applicants based on his performance during the trials.

Bhatia passed the trials but forged documents

The official also informed that during the time of the process, Bhatia had submitted a B.Com degree certificate from the Bundelkhand University, Jhansi. When the department connected with the authorities at the university, it came to notice that no such degree was issued to Bhatia. The reckoning then led to the complaint being filed with the Vidhan Sabha Police Station against the cricketer.

According to the official, a case has been filed under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), and other pertinent laws of the Indian Penal Code, and the matter is being investigated. Bhatia played the U-19 World Cup for India as he represented the country in 2010. Bhatia has also represented the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2010 in the Indian Premier League. He was later roped in by the Pune Warriors in 2011 and has also represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2017.

This year, the Chhattisgarh’s Ranji team was unable to make it to the knockout stage and was eliminated in the league rounds. The knockout rounds, which include the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the finals are set to begin on June 6 with the final clash to be played from June 22-26.