Govt officers linked to fake birth, death cert racket: ED

ED HAS PROBED 2 MALEGAON CASES SO FAR AND WILL EXTEND ITS PROBE TO OTHER DISTRICTS

- Abhishek Sharan

MUMBAI: An investigation by the Mumbai unit of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into a fake birth/death certificate racket has unearthed crucial evidence that connects several key suspects, including a former Malegaon government officer, to the case.

The scam pertains to the issuance of these certificates on delayed applications—made at least a year after the birth or death of ‘a person—which are then used for nefarious purposes.

The investigation so far, based on several Maharashtra police cases, has revealed the existence of a sophisticated network that issues these certificates on a large scale, ED sources said. Based on specific intelligence, the ED recently traced the bank account of one such private agent, who allegedly facilitated the preparation of fake certificates and collected bribes on behalf of a former Malegaon naib tehsildar (local revenue official) in lieu of the issuance of documents required for the certificates.

“The analysis of the agent's bank account revealed that it was mainly used for the bribe money collected on behalf of the then naib tehsildar of Male-gaon,” said an ED source. “It was also observed that the amounts received through UPI were immediately transferred to several persons, most of whom are accused/suspects in this case.” The Maharashtra government has so far suspended two local revenue officials, a tehsildar and a naib tehsildar, along with three clerks for their alleged roles in the issuance of such certificates, and they are under the ED scanner as well, the sources said.