The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday arrested Ravi Kesh, the mastermind of the fake certificates racket, from Lucknow, putting to an end almost a month-long quest to nab the culprit.
Kesh, who hails from Bihar’s Darbhanga, had allegedly created two online portals to generate over four lakh fake birth certificates and over 5,000 fake death certificates from different villages and districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the past two years.
First Unearthed in Rae Bareli
The scam was first uncovered in Salon block of Rae Bareli last month when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) flagged suspicious certificates linked to 12 Rae Bareli villages. The certificates were recovered from several individuals, including Bangladeshi nationals, arrested across different states.
“Kesh was wanted in connection with a case registered on July 17 at the Salon police station in Rae Bareli. He also created two fraudulent web portals — www.crsogovr.in in 2022 and www.thedashboard.in in 2023 — specifically designed to generate fake birth certificates online,” sources from the ATS confirmed.
Network of More Than 4,000
Officials revealed that Kesh established an extensive network involving approximately 4,000 users from UP and Bihar, primarily targeting cybercafe operators and Jan Suvidha Kendra operators through his Facebook page. Of these, 1,500 were active users who regularly generated fake birth and death certificates using his fraudulent portals, effectively bypassing the Centre’s official Civil Registration System (CRS).
“Kesh’s operation spanned multiple districts and states, making the fraudulent activities far-reaching. His illegal enterprise earned him around Rs 3,000 daily,” the official added.
Social Media Platforms are Link
The UP ATS further disclosed that the accused were interconnected through social media platforms and WhatsApp groups. These platforms facilitated the sharing of personal details such as the desired date of birth, name, and address, which were then used to generate fake certificates. Once the counterfeit documents were created, the PDFs were shared within the group, and payments were made online.
The case first came to light on July 17 when Jitendra Singh, the Assistant Development Officer of Salon block, lodged an FIR against Village Development Officer Vijay Singh Yadav. Yadav’s ID and passwords were used to generate fake birth certificates through the official Civil Registration System (CRS) portal. The FIR also named Zeeshan and his father Rizwan, who operated a Jan Suvidha Kendra in Salon town, along with a minor who assisted them. Following the investigation, all three were arrested on July 19 and sent to jail, while the minor was placed in a juvenile home.
Further investigation led to the arrest of six more individuals from different districts on August 3, exposing a broader network of the gang. The Rae Bareli police continued the crackdown, arresting seven more people the next day, revealing the extensive reach of the racket.
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