JAMSHEDPUR, May 6: Five people, including a panchayat secretary, were arrested in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district for allegedly issuing over 4,000 birth certificates without valid documents, police said on Wednesday.
A total of 4,281 birth certificates were issued by the Matiabandhi panchayat in Chakulia block since January 2023, either on the basis of forged documents or without any valid documents, Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal said, addressing a joint press conference along with Senior Superintendent of Police Kishore Kaushal.
The arrests were made after a case was lodged by Chakulia’s Block Development Officer Aarti Munda on May 2, he said.
Mittal said the matter came to the fore during the verification of birth certificates submitted for the admission of BPL (Below Poverty Line) children to schools.
He said a team was formed to examine the certificates issued by the Matiabandhi panchayat after discrepancies were detected during a preliminary investigation.
After the large-scale irregularities were detected, the case was filed, and a Special Investigation Team headed by SP (Rural) Risharbha Garg was formed, the SSP said.
Among those arrested were Matiabandhi panchayat’s secretary Sunil Mahato (59) and Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) Sapan Kumar Mahato (45) of Matiabandhi panchayat, Shivam Dey (31) of Malkundi panchayat, and Harish Kumar Pramanik (26) of Tuju panchayat, he said.
The VLEs are government-authorised agents who provide a host of online public utility and financial services through Common Service Centres.
The fifth person arrested was identified as Arfi Alam (27) of Ranchi, police said.
Computers, printers, laptops, a high-end smartphone and 190 such certificates were seized from the Matiabandhi panchayat office, they said.
Apprehending potential misuse of these certificates for admissions to schools, availing benefits of government schemes, and creating documents such as passports and Aadhaar cards, their details were forwarded to the different departments and agencies for appropriate action, officials said.
The details of these certificates will also be published in the press, and all 11 blocks of the district have been asked to probe if such certificates were issued in their areas, they said.
The SSP said efforts are being made to identify all the accused involved in the racket, and other districts have also been alerted about the potential of similar frauds.
The DC said the panchayat secretary had shared his confidential login id and password with VLE Sapan Kumar Mahato, who shared it with the others.
The officials, however, denied that these certificates were issued to members of any particular community, as was being alleged by the opposition BJP.
Former CM Champai Soren, a BJP MLA, had earlier alleged that over 3,000 birth certificates were issued illegally to Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Referring to the arrest of 13 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by the Mumbai Police recently, Soren said their Aadhaar cards had addresses of Sahebganj district in Jharkhand, and the date of birth of all of them was mentioned as January 1. (PTI)
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