Mumbai Crime: Suspicious husband nails wife’s fraud, gets her arrested

The woman used to practice as an ayurvedic doctor. Representation pic

A domestic violence case cost a woman from Dharavi dearly, as her husband dug into her educational background to find she had forged certificates to get admission to BAMS and informed the police. The woman, who used to practise as an ayurvedic doctor, was recently arrested by the Dharavi police. According to her husband and Dharavi police, she studied in Dharavi, but got forged SSC and HSC certificates from Uttar Pradesh.

The complainant, Sachin Patwa, works in a private company. According to the complaint, his father's friend in Sion, was constantly requesting him to get Patwa married to his daughter, Sonal, who was a divorcee. Finally his father gave in and Patwa and Sonal were married in 2018.

Sachin was told that Sonal is a doctor and works in a private clinic in Ghatkopar. They stayed in a rented flat at Sion. In July 2019 Sonal went to her maternal home when she was pregnant and delivered a baby girl in October 2019 but continued to stay there till May 2020. Patwa had purchased a house in Dombivli and took his wife and daughter there. But after spending a couple of months there she went back to her parents' house with her daughter.

Legal notice

After waiting till January 2021, Patwa issued a legal notice to his wife as she hadn't returned to their home. Sonal allegedly told Patwa to sell the Dombivli flat and rent another near her maternal home. As per the complaint, when Patwa refused to do so, Sonal and her family registered a case of domestic violence against him at the Sion police station.

Licence said UP

Patwa grew suspicious of Sonal's behaviour, wondering why a doctor would leave her career and want to live with her parents. He started probing her educational qualifications. "My wife was born and brought up in Mumbai. She did SSC from Sadhana Vidyalaya in Sion 2007, and HSC from Gauridutta Mittal Junior College in Sion in February 2009 in the science stream. But on her medical licence her education is mentioned in UP. So I wrote to Sadhana Vidyalaya and got her marksheets and submitted them to the police," said Patwa.

The police wrote to MSD Inter College which was mentioned on her licence, and found that Sonal had SSC and HSC certificates from the institute in UP from 2007 to 2009. "This is impossible as the college is 200 kms from her native place," said Patwa.

The police said Sonal took admission at DY Patil Medical College for the BAMS course with certificates from a Uttar Pradesh school and college and started practising as a doctor. They concluded that the admission was sought on the basis of forged documents. The Dharavi police then filed an FIR against Sonal under IPC section 420 (cheating) and relevant sections of forgery on May 10 and arrested her on May 24. She is in judicial custody.

"Under the guidance of DCP (zone 5) Pranay Ashok and Senior Inspector Balawant Patil, we wrote to the UP college and it was concluded that the accused forged the documents to get admission. Subsequently an offence was registered and she has been arrested", said Ankush Jadhav, sub-inspector, Dharavi police station.