>According to KC Janardhan (46), a well-known Bangalore handwriting analyst and calligraphist, attractive women working in PR positions in some of the city’s finer hotels and corporate houses, are being harassed by anonymous letter-writers who are maligning their reputations.
“These anonymous letters are malicious and amount to character assassinations. Usually, the women are accused of being ‘loose charactered’ and ‘cheap.’ I was approached by the HRD people from a couple of these hotels. They wanted me to identify the culprits by analysing the letters. I took handwriting samples of the hotel staff, which pointed me in the right direction. I made a list of people whose handwriting appeared suspicious. When I finally identified the source of the letters, the HRD people were very surprised. The least likely person is often the guilty one. Handwriting is unique to a person, very much like a finger print.” says Janardhan.
Janardhan revealed to this writer that the incidence of ‘poisonous pen writing’ occurs often in large offices where women and men work together. “Some element of frustration is always at the back of these things. A person will write a letter to someone’s husband or wife, accusing the spouse of infidelity… causing suspicion and doubt. Very often, the language used is crude, cheap and obscene.” In a large organisation, it is hard to pin-point the origins of these trouble-makers.
Janardhan’s expertise in handwriting analysis has often been called upon to solve these incidents. But identifying the culprits is not always easy. “Especially when the culprit has written the letter with his left-hand or makes a friend write the letter. It is usually someone the person knows. Someone close. A so-called friend or colleague who is eventually found guilty.”
He has handled several cases involving forgery for financial institutions, banks and export houses.. He has also successfully identified people with ‘criminal tendencies’ based on their handwriting. “One office assistant had forged a cheque for Rs 50,000 when his boss was out of town. When I showed him proof that it was his own handwriting, he refused to confess. Finally, he was sacked by the company. Just last month, I caught a woman clerk at an export house in Peenya, who had swindled Rs 80,000 from her employers. We found that she was involved in 4 other cases of forgery with her husband, a security guard. Just imagine, you can’t trust your own security guard! Her boss was away in Japan at the time,” said Janardhan, pleased with his results.
Most crooks, Janardhan said, are people with access to company’s cheque leaves. “Usually the boss is in a hurry and signs with a ball-point or gel-type pen. When you do this, the impression is recorded on the subsequent 3 or 4 cheque leaves, depending on the pressure applied. Once a person gets hold of these ‘imprints’ it’s easy to forge the signature.”
Janardhan advises people not to sign with a ball-point pen. “They should make it a point to sign only with an ink pen that doesn’t leave any impression.”
But solving crime is only a part of his routine. “I take up these cases only when the people I know approach me in good faith. Justice Balakrishna told me to take it up on a regular basis, but I said ‘no’ because I don’t want to incur the wrath of people. I would much rather stick to holding calligraphy classes and writing certificates.” Janardhan has hand-written 38,000 certificates and is working on a Guinness record in that category.
Other handwriting experts in the city include Keith J Rosario (56) who has handled many forgery cases in the corporate sector.
Rafiullah Baig (24), who has set up a Handwriting Institute in Jayanagar, holds a certificate in handwriting analysis from the Ray Walker University in Dallas, (a course for which he paid Rs 16,500 way back in 1998) is putting his expensive education to good use. Baig says that his cases revolve around the heart. Young men and women who want to be sure that their love is returned. “Some are satisfied with the information I provide and some aren’t. Sometimes, one of them is genuinely in love and the other is merely pretending. It’s a shocking revelation to someone in love. You can deceive someone with your talk, but not with your handwriting.”
Lakshminarayan (46) who has worked for the city’s Forensic Department as handwriting expert for the past 25 years told this writer that he hasn’t received any cases concerning ‘anonymous letters’. “We only take up cases handed over by the police. But yes, we have heard the police talking informally that some businessmen received threatening letters. But since no formal complaint was made, I cannot say for sure that it is true. We have analysed letters that involve kidnapping to determine if the house maid or the car driver is a suspect.”
According to these experts, your smile may deceive, your words may lie and your intentions may be evil… but your handwriting never lies.
Contact numbers: Janardhan 2670-4270. Rosario 2333-2660/2333-1579/2333-1585. Baig 98451-77143.
