Man held for seeking donations with fake cancer certificate

All of us might have noticed youngsters seeking donations for ‘cancer' patients in high pitched voices onboard local trains. Suspicious railway police officers caught one such person a month back, who was again called yesterday for further questioning.

The cops observed the 19-year-old youth onboard a Churchgate-bound local train, holding a transparent box containing some currency notes, on which a label read Umeed Foundation, as he asked for donations for a certain cancer patient showing the commuters the ‘medical certificate' of the ‘patient', who appeared to be a child in the photo.

Cops grew suspicious because the youth, identified as Adhitya Mohite, seemed too young for such work. He was detained at Bandra station around 4 pm. Mohite, a resident of Chembur, was then brought to the Bandra RPF station house, where the cops started questioning him.

"He confessed that the certificate was fake and he was doing it to earn some easy money. The donation box at that time did not have more than Rs 500. Further probe revealed that he was not associated with any NGO. He was booked under Section 144(B) of the Railway Act," said a senior Railway Protection Force officer, adding that Mohite was produced in the railway court in Mumbai Central and was granted bail on a bond of Rs 2,000 on the same day.

The railway police added that they are investigating whether he is a part of an organised racket and are also probing the source of the fake certificates used to win commuters' sympathy and donations.