Another fake birth certificate detected at VMC's Aadhaar centre

Vadodara: Officials of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) detected yet another fake birth certificate submitted at an Aadhaar card centre in the ward office of the civic body in the Makarpura area of the city on Friday. This is the second such incident detected by VMC this month.

The fake birth certificate was flagged when the centre at the Ward 19 office in Makarpura sent it online to the census office of the civic body. The certificate appeared prima facie fake but was still forwarded to the birth, death, and marriage registration department. Sources said the department confirmed the certificate was forged. The QR code on the document also failed to yield any information.

"We decided to register an offence regarding the incident," said census officer Shamik Joshi. A case was registered at Makarpura police station. Joshi said the man, Munna Paswan, had submitted the document to get the date of birth in his daughter's Aadhaar card changed. The girl is a school student, and the father wanted the date corrected for school submission.

Joshi said preliminary questioning revealed Paswan had procured the fake certificate from a photocopy shop in the Alva Naka area of Manjalpur. The shop owner allegedly charged Rs 500 for the document. Joshi added that Paswan claimed to possess an original certificate for his daughter, but he failed to produce it before being handed over to the police.

On May 1, a youth was similarly held after trying to get an Aadhaar card using a fake birth certificate. That case was registered at Raopura police station.