Passport authorities find fake birth certificates

Regional passport authorities in Jalandhar have identified a gang making fake birth certificates in Kapurthala which were being used to apply for passports.Harmanbir Singh Gill, regional passport officer (RPO), Jalandhar, has lodged a complaint with the Kapurthala police that around 19 people from the city allegedly used fake certificates to obtain passports.

The RPO also wrote to the health department about the forgery but the department said the certificates were not issued by it, after which, passport officials filed a complaint with the Kapurthala police to find out the real culprits.

The accused have been identified as Maninder Singh, a resident of Sidhwan Dona village; Dalwinder Singh, a resident of Allawal village; Davinder Palla of Rampur Jagir village; Sandeep Singh of Pakhowal village; Gurjit Singh; Parminder Singh; Ramandeep Singh, a resident of Ibrahimwal village; Davinder Singh, a resident of Bibri village; Gurdeep Singh of Surkhpur village; Geeta Rani of Palahi village in Phagwara; Nachattar Singh, a resident of Pashata village; Balbir Singh, a resident of Sandhu Chatha village; Sukhjit Kaur, a resident of Nathuchahal village; Avtar Singh of Allahbad village; Suraj of Hadiabad village; Maninder Kaur, a resident of Allahbad village; Manreet Kaur of Sukhia Nangal; Harjinder Kaur of Bhanolanga village and Honey Kumar of Sultanpur Lodhi.

Harmanbir Singh Gill, the RPO, said that around 200 cases of fake certificates had been registered in cities such as Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr.

"The birth certificates are being issued so casually that we have to verify 90% certificates attached to the documents to ensure they are not fake," he said.

Gill said the Gurdaspur administration had made an effort to issue the birth and death certificate only from suwidha centres which would have the signature of the district magistrate and a hologram.

"From the signature and hologram, officials can easily identify that the certificate is real and they can also confirm on the e-governance website whether the administration has issued a certificate or not," he said. Gill said this system should be implemented in every district and sub-division as it will ease matters for the government as well as for common people.

Meanwhile, Kapurthala police have booked 19 people and a case has been registered under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120b of the Indian Penal Code at the City Police Station.