Malegaon Scam: 5th FIR Filed As 1,044 Fake Birth Certificates Surface With Forged Tehsildar Signatures

The Killa police (Nashik Rural) have registered an FIR against an unidentified person for allegedly forging 1,044 fake birth certificates under the Malegaon Municipal Corporation. The documents bore fake Tehsildar signatures and had delayed birth registrations. A case was filed on June 10. This is the fifth FIR in the Malegaon birth certificate scam.

The complaint was filed by Dr. Jayashri Aaher, 47, a health officer at the Malegaon Municipal Corporation. According to the FIR, birth and death registration work in the Malegaon Municipal Corporation has been handled by Abdul Razzaq, a health officer, since June 2023. In December 2024, the Corporation formed a committee to investigate the distribution of fake birth certificates, and the committee is currently investigating the matter.

In cases where a birth or death is not registered within the prescribed period, the Birth and Death Registration Act, 1969, provides a process to issue certificates through judicial proceedings. However, since this process was complicated, the Act was amended in 2023 to enable citizens to obtain certificates more easily. The Revenue Department was given the authority to issue late birth and death certificates. Although such certificates are issued through Tehsildars, the investigation has revealed that the necessary evidence was not properly verified while issuing certificates in such cases in Malegaon. It has come to light that birth certificates were distributed despite errors in the documents submitted by applicants. Around 3,000 such certificates were ordered in Malegaon, and the investigation revealed that many of them were issued despite incomplete documentation.

Meanwhile, the Corporation issued 3,460 late birth certificates between November 2023 and December 2024. However, it has been revealed that 1,044 of these were fake. The certificates bore fake Tehsildar signatures and had delayed birth registrations.

The police registered the case under sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), 340(2) (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), and 3(5) (general explanation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.