An investigation into the fabricated birth certificates of thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators was launched on 18th July in the Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh. The probe is still ongoing. So far, over 52,000 certificates have been discovered to be fraudulent. This forgery includes identification certificates of people from several states of India, along with people from neighboring countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The government has announced cancellation of all these bogus certificates. According to media reports, a total of 11 villages in Salon block is where these fake birth certificates were discovered. A total of 52,594 of these certificates have been forged in these villages. These certificates were issued in the names of citizens of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Punjab, as well as for people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. Deputy Director Panchayati Raj Saswat Anand Singh has ordered to revoke these bogus certificates.
Furthermore, the district’s District Public Relations Officer (DPRO) has been directed to exercise extra caution while issuing birth and death certificates going forward. According to the inquiry, fraudsters in multiple villages created 500 to 1000 phony birth certificates in a day, although a computer is only capable of producing 100 certificates in a 24-hour period. It is believed that the perpetrators from several locations collaborated to generate a large number of certificates in one day using a single ID and password.
Palhipur is the most afflicted of the 11 villages where fraudulent birth certificates have been unearthed and 13707 fake certifications have been detected, followed by Nuruddinpur where the number is 10151, and Prithvipur at third number at 9393 fake certificates. Moreover, 4897 fake certificates were identified in Sanda Saidan, 3746 in Madhavpur Ninaya, 3780 in Lahurepur, 2255 in Garhi Islamnagar, 1665 in Aunanees, 225 in Gopalpur, also known as Anantapur, and 2 in Dubhan.
The primary suspect in this matter is Mohammad Zeeshan who is a resident of Salon. Riaz, Suhail Khan, and Block Development Officer (BDO) Vijay Singh Yadav were allegedly involved in the conspiracy with him. All accused have been arrested. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been roped in along with Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) to investigate the case. Investigators are looking into whether other accused people were complicit in the forgery.
The issue was brought to light in July 2024 when more birth certificates were issued than the population of some villages. This conspiracy was initially not known even to the heads of several villages. Vijay Yadav had filed the police complaint in an attempt to prove his innocence. According to a police probe, he provided Zeeshan with his official CUG number. All birth certificates used to arrive at this number with an OTP confirming their approval.
