Pune: The metropolis police on Sunday arrested an affiliate professor of chemistry with an academic institute in Wagholi on the charge of forging doc to claim that his identify was “finalised” for the coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award to be introduced in Sept 2026 for excellent scientific achievement.“We arrested Virendra Singh Yadav following a complaint lodged by an official from the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. We produced him before a court that ordered his custodial remand till Sept 26 and have also recorded his statement,” deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV) Somay Mundhe informed TOI. Yadav, initially from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, was residing in Wagholi.The matter got here to mild when a cast letter dated Sept 13, 2025, with minister of state for science and know-how Jitendra Singh’s signature declaring the 2025-26 award, obtained circulated inside the scientific neighborhood. This left many questioning how the professor might claim the Bhatnagar award that was changed by the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar scheme in 2023.The FIR, registered in opposition to Yadav on Saturday, acknowledged that “the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Human Resource Development Group (CSIR-HRDG) conducted an inquiry and found the letter and the signature forged, and that no selection was made for the 2025-26 Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar”. The FIR acknowledged that the NCL’s senior safety officer and its administrative officer visited the institute at Wagholi and questioned the professor, who admitted to have made the award claim based mostly on a cast letter. NCL director Ashish Lele stated the laboratory was awaiting the ministry’s approval to remark on the difficulty. He stated: “We expect to receive the approval from the headquarters tomorrow (Monday).”Sub inspector Sandeep Karpe of Wagholi police, who’s investigating the case, stated: “Yadav is pursuing research in oncology medicines and regularly visits a prominent cancer treatment hospital in Mumbai in relation to his work.”Yadav claimed in his assertion that on Sept 9, a person in Mumbai handed over to him the letter “signed by the MoS science and technology” and declaring the 2025-26 SS Bhatnagar award to him. “On reaching his college later, Yadav told his colleagues about the letter and showed it to his college principal and others,” the officer stated.“One of his colleagues took photographs of the letter and shared it with her friend in Gurugram, Haryana. The colleague’s friend then uploaded the photograph on the website of a professional networking and career development,” the officer stated.The police stated an official from the ministry stumbled upon the {photograph} on-line and checked it. No such letter was issued by the ministry. The ministry then urged the NCL officers in Pune to lodge a grievance of dishonest and forgery. (With inputs from Swati Shinde Gole)