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Hindustan Times
03-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
52K fake birth certificates generated on bogus addresses to be cancelled
Over 52,000 fake birth certificates generated on 'bogus' addresses in eleven villages of Rae Bareli's Salon will be cancelled, confirmed district panchayati raj officer (DPRO) Saumya Sheel Singh on Friday. The scam was exposed last year after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) red flagged certain certificates. 'A report on fake birth certificates issued from Rae Bareli villages was sent to the office of the director general (DG), Census, via the district magistrate (DM) of Rae Bareli around 15 days ago. The regional Census office in Lucknow has also been informed,' the DPRO said. 'As many as 52,594 fake birth certificates issued on bogus addresses in eleven villages of Salon block were identified during a verification drive carried out over six months in these villages. The cancellation of all fake certificates is recommended.' A senior police official said the NIA, in the second week of July last year, had red-flagged certain birth certificates made on addresses in some of these Salon villages after recovering the documents from some people, including a few Bangladesh nationals who were arrested in several states. He said the UP Anti-Terror Squad had also joined the investigation. 'On July 17, 2024, the nexus in Salon was unearthed after the arrest of a village development officer (VDO), Vijay Yadav, a local Jan Suvidha Kendra operator, Zeeshan, his son Riyaz, and a minor involved in generating fake birth certificates using the government's Civil Registration System (CRS) portal without mentioning proper address and other details of beneficiaries. The VDO's login credentials were used for the purpose. An FIR was then lodged against the VDO and three others at the Salon police station for misusing the CRS portal, on July 16, 2024,' he stated. The investigation officer, inspector Jitendra Singh, had said that over 4 lakh fake birth certificates and 5,000 fake death certificates were generated on addresses in 29 districts of UP and 13 districts of Bihar. During the investigation, four named accused and 13 others, including the mastermind of UP nexus Govind Kesari, who was Jan Suvidha Kendra operator in Sonbhadra, as well as 11 other such operators, were arrested and charge sheeted in the case. The DPRO added the eleven villagers from where these fake birth certificates were issued were Dalhepur, Nooruddinpur, Prithvipur, Sanda Saidan, Madhopur Naniya, Lahurepur, Sirsira, Gadi Islamnagar, Aunanish, Gopal Anantpur and Dubhan. He stated the maximum number of 13,707 certificates were issued on bogus addresses in Dalhepur, 10,151 in Nooruddinpur, 9,393 in Prithvipur, 4,897 in Sanda Saidan, 3,746 in Madhopur Naniya, 3,780 in Lahurepur, 2,773 in Sirsira, 2,255 from Gadi Islamnagar, 1,665 from Aunanish, 225 in Gopal Anantpur and two in Dubhan village. Notably, the Rae Bareli police had filed a 54-page charge sheet against all the accused in the case. UP Gangster Act was also slapped against the accused, who were part of a wider network, spread across several states, involved in generating fake documents to misuse them to avail the benefits of several government schemes.
Time of India
02-05-2025
- Time of India
52,000 fake birth certificates to be cancelled in Rae Bareli
Lucknow: At least 52,000 forged birth certificates issued in 11 villages of Salon block in Rae Bareli by misusing the login of a village development officer (VDO) will be cancelled, officials said. The fake birth certificate scam was unearthed on July 18, 2024, wherein the accused Mohammad Zeeshan and his aides issued fake birth certificates by fabricating identities from multiple Indian states, including Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Punjab. After detailed investigation, the UP ATS busted the gang with the arrest of 10 people, including VDO Vijay Singh Yadav, whose official login was used to run the scam. District panchayati raj officer, Saumyasheel Singh, said, "Fake birth certificates found during investigation in villages of Salon block will be cancelled. A report has been sent to the director general, birth and death registration, through the district magistrate for necessary action. Once the order is received, the process of cancellation will begin." A list of 52,594 forged documents has been submitted to the director general (birth & death registration). The largest number of fake certificates were found in Palhipur (13,707), Nuruddinpur (10,151), and Prithvipur (9,393). According to police, an assistant village development officer, Jitendra Singh, had detected discrepancies while comparing online and offline birth registers of several gram panchayats in Salon development block and registered a case last year. The gram pradhans of affected panchayats provided affidavits confirming that the people for whom birth certificates were issued were neither residents of their gram panchayats nor were they born there. Jitendra Singh said that issuing birth certificates for permanent residents of other districts through fraudulent means was not only objectionable but also posed a security threat. SHO, Salon police station, Jitendra Pratap said the birth certificates were issued through fraudulent means. The investigation uncovered the involvement of Yadav and CSC operators who misused birth-death registration ID password to facilitate the fraud.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussies to get ‘rude shock' as price of most stressful bill goes up again: ‘Travesty'
Australians should prepare to see their electricity bills go up soon, even as many continue to struggle to keep up with already staggeringly high prices. The Australian Energy Regulator has released its draft decision Default Market Order (DMO), and the Essential Services Commission has dropped the draft decision for the Victorian Default Offer (VDO). The DMO applies to residents in NSW, southeast Queensland, and South Australia, and it acts as a cap on what energy retailers should charge consumers for a standing offer electricity plan. Meanwhile, the VDO is considered a fair price for a standing offer electricity plan to help consumers know if they're getting a good deal or not. However, these orders and offers also act as a reference price for all market offers in other regions. RELATED Three major dates looming that could save Aussies thousands: 'Crunch time' Superannuation warning as new $73,000 retirement reality exposed Final instalment of $300 energy cash boost to hit accounts from April 1: 'Winding down' In Victoria, the average household is set to be slugged by an annual increase of $12 on their electricity bills. The standing offer tariffs could be $19 lower for AusNet and Powercor areas, or $68 higher for CitiPower regions, based on annual usage of 4,000 kilowatt hours. Small businesses are expected to cop an average annual hike of $103. Bills are set to go up by $77 in the AusNet area, and be $128 higher in CitiPower region. The VDO only applies to about 13 per cent of households and 20 per cent of businesses that haven't opted for a more competitive consumers in NSW, South Australia and south east Queensland, prices are only going up. Households can expect to see a 2.5 per cent to 8.9 per cent jump in their prices compared to last financial year, which translates to roughly a $55 to $200 increase. Small business customers could see rises between 4.2 per cent and 8.2 per cent, or a hike of $76 to $312 hike. 'We've seen cost pressures across nearly every component of the DMO, and we have given careful scrutiny to every element of the DMO cost stack to ensure prices are a reasonable reflection of the costs of a retailer to supply electricity,' Australian Energy Regulator (AER) chair Clare Savage said. It's worth remembering that these are draft decisions and not yet set in stone. Once a final decision is made, the price hikes will kick in on July 1. The AER said wholesale market and network costs, which are the two largest components of DMO prices, have seen increases of 2-12 per cent for the majority of customers. While the Essential Services Commission said network costs were the biggest contributor to the changes. Yahoo Finance contributor David Koch said there has been a higher-than-normal demand for electricity triggered due to extreme weather conditions on the east coast. 'We haven't seen demand like this for nearly a decade and that volume has been compounded by reduced coal availability and transmission issues,' Koch said. 'Higher wholesale prices could mean bigger bills for households and when the government rebates finally start to roll off the difference could be a real rude shock. 'It's important to remember, while the DMO provides a safety net for consumers, there are often much more attractive deals on offer for consumers willing to compare and switch.' Even though state and federal governments have offered energy rebates to help with this rising cost, it's still not enough. According to Compare the Market, three-quarters of consumers said they had been shocked by their electricity bills in the last three months. Energy beat out other costs like water, fuel, phone and internet, causing more panic than credit card and loan repayments. One in five Aussies said their energy bill would be the one to take their bank account into overdraft or blow out their credit card. Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) CEO Cassandra Goldie said people are going to extreme lengths just to keep up with this one bill. 'It's a complete travesty that in one of the world's wealthiest nations, people are getting sick, skipping meals and delaying medical appointments because they can't afford to cool and power their homes,' she in to access your portfolio
