Fake Passport Racket Deepens As Forged BMC Birth Certificates Used To Obtain Passports In Bhopal

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: The investigation into a suspected fake passport racket has revealed the use of counterfeit birth certificates issued by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) to obtain passports. Police discovered that five birth certificates, submitted as part of the passport process, were fraudulent. These documents closely resembled genuine certificates, but their QR and bar codes could not be scanned on a smartphone, a feature that typically verifies the document's authenticity.

The investigation was prompted by the discovery that 30 passports had been issued using the address of Buddha Vihar Colony in Simariya Tekri, Dabra. This probe later expanded to encompass Ashok Buddha Vihar, a Buddhist monastery in Anna Nagar, Govindpura, where an additional 39 passports were allegedly issued using the same address. According to the Special Task Force (STF), these passports were issued in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

The matter came to light during an investigation into individuals suspected of migrating from Bangladesh to India. The registrar of BMC's Birth and Death Registration Branch, Satyaprakash Badgainya, confirmed that the five fraudulent birth certificates examined by the corporation were indeed fake. He noted that the signatures on the documents did not align with the tenure of the officer who signed them, providing further evidence of forgery.

In response to the findings, BMC has initiated a cross-check of all certificates issued during the relevant period.