Fake birth and death certificates scam unearthed

GANGTOK, 22 Jan: A big scam involving the making of fake birth and death certificates is underway in Sikkim; so much so that the Health Department, under which comes the Registrar of Births and Deaths cell which issues the official certificates, has filed a complaint with the Vigilance Directorate seeking an investigation.
The Vigilance police is presently enquiring into the matter and while no government official has been implicated so far, an arrest has already been made and incriminating evidence recovered. However, as informed, there is an apprehension that there are more people involved in different parts of the state in the making of false birth and death certificates.
In fact fake certificates seized by the police are from various places thereby giving rise to the suspicion that there are several people involved even if they are not necessarily linked to each other.
The scam was noticed by the Health Department some time back. As a matter of procedure, a birth or death certificate is issued at the Primary Health Centre level which has to then be attested by the Registrar, Births & Deaths. The scam was first sniffed when the Registrar, as per procedure and in the process of verifying a certificate, sends it to the concerned PHC.
In several such instances, the PHCs concerned are reported to have responded saying that they had no knowledge of such a certificate having been issued by them. When such cases kept piling up and the number of such dubious certificates ran into the hundreds, the department suspected something amiss and approached the Vigilance police.
Following up on the case, the police recently arrested one Dilli Ram Ruchal of Ranipool who is originally from Kalimpong. In an associated raid at his place, over 20 fake certificates, other documents, along with rubber seals of various authorities were recovered. In fact some of the rubber seals were of some school and panchayat authorities of Darjeeling and Kalimpong as well.
Apart from fake birth certificates he is also suspected of having been involved in making fake school leaving certificates and other such documents. He himself is reported to have made many fake birth certificates; however the police believe him to have been working alone.
Police investigation has been slow as people who have approached the concerned office with fake certificates for attestation have stopped returning to claim their certificates. It is likely that they have been alerted about the police intervention. Many such fake certificates are informed to be still lying at the Registrar’s office.