Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (UP ATS) on Saturday arrested six individuals involved in a widespread fake birth certificate scam. The suspects are accused of creating 19,184 fake certificates, often beyond their jurisdiction, in collusion with operators of common service centres in the Salon area of Rae Bareli district.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Govind Keshari, Akash Kasodhan, Salma Ali, Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Vaibhav Upadhyay, and Shahnawaj Rafique. Their names came to light after the interrogation of previously arrested suspects, including Village Development Officer (VDO) Vijay Singh Yadav, Zeeshan Khan, Suhail, and Riyaz Khan on July 19.
According to Inspector General of ATS, Nilabja Chaudhary, the UP ATS used a combination of physical and electronic surveillance to track down those responsible for the illegal creation of birth certificates. The ATS field teams from Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Moradabad, Bareilly, Ayodhya, Bahraich, and Prayagraj carried out extensive inquiries, which led to the detention of suspects involved in the fraudulent issuance of certificates using VDO login credentials and online portals.
Chaudhary explained that several customer service centres at the local and tehsil level, where applications for certificates such as income, caste, and residence are processed, were being misused. Some operators had access to the login IDs and passwords of VDOs, which enabled them to create fake birth certificates without the direct involvement of the VDOs.
The fraudsters operated through social media groups where users posted details like name, birth date, parents’ names, and address to request birth certificates. Members with access to VDO login credentials would use these details to issue the certificate online. Once completed, the certificate would be sent to the requester in PDF format.
In addition, several fraudulent websites were identified, such as crsorgi-govi.com, births.in, and vlefastwork.online, which allowed operators to log in using VDO credentials and generate fake birth certificates. These websites also facilitated the alteration of Aadhaar cards, further extending the scope of the fraud.