MUMBAI, June 24 -- The Bombay high court imposed a Rs.5 lakh penalty on Ashish Sawant, sarpanch of Nandgaon in Raigad, for having a fraudulent caste certificate, which came to light after a complaint filed against him during the gram panchayat elections in 2024. The court said that using a fraudulent caste certificate was a constitutional fraud. Savant's opponent in the election, Jalindar Khaire, had filed a complaint with the Raigad District Caste Scrutiny Committee questioning Savant's Kunbi caste status after losing the election to him. The scrutiny committee passed an order calling his caste certificate fraudulent and invalidating his caste claim. Savant then approached the high court claiming he hadn't been heard and his documents hadn't been properly checked. Investigations revealed that Sawant had used a fake school leaving certificate, issued in the name of his father, but a report from the school said the certificate was not issued by them, and Sawant's father was absent from their records. Records revealed he was a Hindu Maratha. A division bench of justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata dismissed Sawant's plea and asked him to pay Rs.5 lakh....