Hyderabad cops nab gang issuing fake birth certificates

The Hyderabad police have busted a fake birth certificate racket and have nabbed four persons.

Mohd Ibrahim (45), Shaik Ameer (29), Md Shahbaz (19) and Mohd Shanawaz (26), online citizen services kiosk operators in old city areas of Hyderabad, were found to have issued 3,000 such fake birth certificates to people of different ages in just last six months.

Sai Chaitanya, IPS, south zone DCP, told DH that they have asked the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to verify the bogus certificates and are also probing if these documents were procured by any illegal immigrants.

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“We have not come across such a case among the 243 certificates. All of them were locals, no Rohingya etc. The 3,000-odd certificates the gang has issued were sent to GHMC for scrutiny. The matter is under further investigation,” the official said.

Chandrayangutta etc localities in the old city have Rohingya shelters.

“While some are cases of people born before 1996, the record of which is not maintained by the GHMC, some are of children whose birth name given was not registered with the civic authorities within the stipulated one year time. Some people take these fake certificates to show themselves as a few years younger for various benefits,” the DCP said.

As per the GHMC norms, authorities of hospitals where a child is born collect the identity proofs of parents and submit the child's birth details through Form-A to the local municipal office. This information is entered into the official records. Parents can later apply for child birth certificates through Mee Seva or citizen service centres.

After due verification, the concerned circle officials issue the documents. Cops said that if a child's birth details are unavailable in GHMC records, then the applicant has to obtain a non-availability certificate from the Special Executive Magistrate, which is submitted at Mee Seva centre for registration of birth certificate.

According to the police, the accused Ibrahim, running a Mee Seva Centre named IA Khidmate Services at Sultan-Shahi colluded with other online centre owners Ameer, Shahbaz, and Shanawaz, and started issuing unverified birth certificates to needy customers whose details are not available in GHMC records.

The gang was charging Rs 2,000-2,500 for issuing one certificate.

Based on the customers' requests coming through brokers, Ibrahim first fills the data online – child or self-name, father-mother name and date of birth through his Mee Seva portal without uploading any valid documents. He then processes the Non-Availability Certificate directly without following due procedure and obtains the birth certificate as genuine, keeping the GHMC officials in dark.

Receiving credible information about the fraud, the Hyderabad Commissioner's Task Force, South Zone team along with Moghalpura police apprehended the accused and seized 243 fake certificates, thumb scanner, computer, printer and four cell phones.