Punjabi Origin Amravati MP Navneet Kaur Rana Fined For Fake Caste Certificate

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday fined Independent MP from Amravati Lok Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra, Navneet Kaur Rana a sum of  Rs 2 lakh for submitting a fake caste certificate. With this, she might face the prospect of being disqualified from her parliamentary position as an elected MP.

A division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and V G Bisht also cancelled the caste certificate issued to Navneet Kaur Rana, saying it was obtained fraudulently using fabricated documents, and directed her to surrender it within six weeks.

The sum of  Rs 2 lakh was to paid to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority within a period of two weeks, the order stated.

The HC noted that the claim of belonging to 'Mochi' caste made by Rana for obtaining the Scheduled Caste certificate itself was fraudulent and made with an intention to obtain various benefits available to a candidate from such category, despite knowing she does not belong to that caste.

A former Tollwood starlet Navneet Kaur who is of Punjabi origin, quit films to marry Ravi Rana an independent MLA from Badnera constituency in Amravati city in 2011. She first contested unsuccessfully in 2014, but later won the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 as an independent candidate beating Shiv Sena's candidate.

Last year the Solapur district police registered a case of cheating and forgery against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Lingayat seer, Jai Siddheshwar Shivacharya Swami, for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate with his election affidavit prior to the Lok Sabha elections.

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