The civic top brass and police have busted a
fake birth-certificate racket that operated from the Kolkata Municipal
Corporation (KMC) headquarters and had networks in all the borough and ward
offices. The gang had been operating for several years and it took a
six-month-long investigation by the civic body to identify the key players, who
include some KMC health department employees.
Ashit Saraswati, a KMC health department
bailiff, was arrested 10 days ago after a woman complained to the police that
he had taken money from her for a birth certificate but gave her a fake one.
Though Saraswati is posted in Behala, he used to visit the civic head quarters
at S N Banerjee Road frequently. He was earlier arrested a few months ago for
issuing a certificate with an invalid KMC logo, but was released as the
complainant withdrew the FIR.
That's not all. The police have found that a
section of civic employees, with the help of the touts, has been regularly
forging documents and even the signature of a metropolitan magistrate to sell
birth certificates at high rates. "Depending on the urgency of the applicant,
who approaches a tout because he does not have valid documents or to avoid
harassment, a birth certificate can be sold for anything between Rs 2,000 and
5,000," said a KMC official.
A recent raid by a civic team at a tout's
hideout took the officials by surprise. "We have found among other
documents fake copies of orders issued in the name of a city metropolitan
magistrate. The touts have forged the signature of the magistrate
concerned," said Debasis Sen, the special officer of the KMC health department.
(Courtesy: Homai News)
