E-Paper
5 held in UP’s Sonbhadra for issuing fake death certificate of Haryana CM
Accused identified as Prashant Maurya, Monu Sharma, Ansar Ahmed and Mohd Kaif Ansari, residents of Azamgarh and Etah’s Yashwant Singh, a contractual worker in the health department: Police
VARANASI Five persons, including a contractual worker of the health department, were arrested in UP’s Sonbhadra on Friday for allegedly issuing a fake death certificate of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar from here on February 2, said UP Police officials.
In the fake certificate, Pannuganj primary health centre, Sonbhadra, was mentioned as the place of issuance and the death date was mentioned as May 5, 2022.
The accused were identified as Prashant Maurya, Monu Sharma, Ansar Ahmed and Mohd Kaif Ansari, residents of Azamgarh and Yashwant Singh of Etah district. Yashwant, a contractual worker in the health department, was a state coordinator in the birth and death data section, said a senior police officer.
Manoj Kumar, a data processing assistant in the birth-death section of the chief medical officer, Sonbhadra, had filed a complaint with the police at Sadar Kotwali on February 10, informing that the death certificate (registration number D/2023.60339-000021), issued in the name of Manohar Lal, son of Harvansh Lal, a resident of Karnal, Haryana, was completely fake as the name of primary health centre, Pannuganj, Sonbhadra, was mentioned as the place of issuance and there was no government hospital in Pannuganj, said ASP (Sonbhadra) TN Tripathi. It was an act of some mischievous elements, he added.
The gang, in collusion with a contractual employee in Lucknow’s Swasthya Bhawan, got hold of the login ID and password of a portal, created for issuing birth and death certificates, and issued the documents to people in exchange of money, he said.
A case was registered under IPC sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating,) and 471 (using as genuine forged document). A team was constituted to investigate the matter, added the ASP.
All five persons were arrested from different locations. Four laptops and seven mobiles were recovered from their possession. The police also took help of SOG (Special Operations Group) cops in the matter. Section 66 C and Section 66 D of the IT Act were added to the case after the arrest, said Tripathi.
During interrogation, the accused said Yashwant, who works as the state coordinator in the birth and death statistics section of Swasthya Bhavan in Lucknow, gave them the ID and password of the CRS portal created for issuing birth and death certificates. Yashwant also helped register the mobile number of the accused with the portal so that they could get OTP after logging in and issue birth and death certificates in exchange for money, said police.
The accused told the police that on February 2, a person whom they did not know, sent them details of ‘Manohar Lal, son of Harvansh Lal R/o 719 New Prem Nagar, Post Prem Nagar Karnal Haryana Pin- 132001’ on WhatsApp, asking them to issue a death certificate. The accused issued the death certificates for which they also received money, they said.
The accused claimed that they were not aware that they were issuing the death certificate of Haryana CM. When they got to know about it, they cancelled the death certificate from the same ID, which was issued to them for making it, said the ASP.
