Mayor Dipak Kumar Bhubania's wife has denied her husband was a fugitive, as claimed by an RTI activist, but the latter says the case serial number has been tampered with.

RTI activist-cum-lawyer Dinesh Kumar Singh had exposed a 22-year-old court verdict convicting Bhubania and issuing a red warrant against him. Dinesh alleged that Bhubania was never arrested, hid that he was a "fugitive" in his declaration papers, got elected as a ward councillor and went on to become mayor.

In an application to senior superintendent of police Vivek Kumar on March 31, mayor's wife Sunita Bhubania said: "My husband is innocent. PS case no 6/87, which alleged my husband was convicted and declared absconder, was a case of Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (1954) in which my husband surrendered."

Additional superintendent of police Bina Kumari confirmed the August 19, 2009 warrant returned to court on July 30, 2010. "We will check with court documents," she said.

But the RTI activist said Prakash Chandra Rao, and not Bhubania, is accused in PS case No 6/87. "It is case LPS No 6/87, under Section 32 of Motor Transport Worker Act, in which Bhubania was convicted and declared absconder. The problem, a goof-up by clerks or with Bhubania's connivance, is that some documents of case number LPS-6/87 mention it as PS6/87. It's worth probing how two cases where nature and accused are different, have same number in same court," Dinesh asked.