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Fake birth certificate racket surfaces in Aadhaar drive

Fake birth certificate racket surfaces in Aadhaar drive

Time of India16-07-2025
Vadodara: Since May, Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials involved in Aadhaar registrations have been on high alert due to a rise in fake birth certificates. Of the nine such cases detected so far, eight involved parents seeking Aadhaar cards for their children.
Although VMC officials verify all documents submitted for Aadhaar, fake birth certificates began surfacing only recently. In most cases, parents said they needed Aadhaar cards for school admissions.
Whenever a certificate was found to be fake, officials at the Aadhaar centre escalated the matter to higher authorities, who questioned the person involved before handing over the case to the police. A common thread in all cases was schools insisting on Aadhaar cards and birth certificates for generating APAAR (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry) IDs.
An official said many of the children were born outside Vadodara or in other states. "Parents were reluctant to travel to those places to get genuine birth certificates. Instead, they turned to touts who promised to arrange them. It's possible the parents were unaware the documents were fake, but that's now under police investigation," the official added.
Most forged certificates had identical formats, differing only in names, birthdates, and other personal details.
A cursory glance was often enough to spot the forgeries, especially since their QR codes led nowhere when scanned.
The fake certificates were typically procured from small shopkeepers, photocopy shops, or similar outlets. While the going rate was Rs 500, in a recent July 12 case from Warasiya, a woman paid Rs 2,200 for one.
VMC follows a three-layered verification system for Aadhaar document checks. Suspect documents flagged at Aadhaar centres go to higher officials and then to the issuing department for final verification.
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