Maharashtra’s Mahayuti government has suspended two Tehsildars from Malegaon after a massive birth certificate scam has come to the fore from Malegaon. This development comes amid a crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators across the state.
Maharashtra Government suspends two Tehsildars
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya shared copies of the suspension orders of two Tehsildars. The two have been identified as Tehsildar Nitinkumar Devre and Tehsildar Sandeep Dharankar. Both Devre and Dharankar have been suspended for negligence of duty till further order. The suspension letters also say that the two did not deal with the matter with the seriousness it should have been dealt with.
The suspension raises several questions including that of national security. It also highlights how bureaucrats are allowing illegal Bangladeshis to settle in Bharat even when they know that fake and forged documents are being used.
SIT to probe birth certificate scam
The Maharashtra government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Inspector General Datta Karale, to probe the issuance of birth and death certificates on delayed applications—those filed more than a year after the event. This move follows growing concerns over illegal Bangladeshi immigrants residing in the state.
Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule confirmed that the SIT will investigate previously issued certificates and pending applications. The probe was initiated following BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s allegations of a birth certificate scam. He claimed that in Akola City alone, between January 2021 and December 2023, magistrate courts issued 269 delayed birth registration orders, whereas the tehsildar approved 4,849. Similar discrepancies were noted in Yavatmal (11,864 applications), Akola (15,845), and Nagpur (4,350).
Somaiya further alleged that two lakh Bangladeshi Rohingyas applied for birth certificates in Maharashtra, with Malegaon’s tehsildar being suspended over such irregularities. He highlighted Akola, Amravati, and Malegaon as key hubs for illegal immigration and claimed 1,000 fake birth certificates were issued in Amravati’s Anjangaon Surji village alone.
The illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya threat
The Devendra Fadnavis-led government has intensified efforts to identify and act against illegal immigrants, leading to multiple arrests across Maharashtra.
A similar birth certificate scam was unearthed by authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Rae Bareli last year. It was discovered that certificates were issued far beyond the actual village populations. In Nuruddinpur, with a population of around 8,000, over 12,000 birth certificates were issued. The fraud was orchestrated by Zeeshan with the help of village development officer Vijay Yadav, who bypassed verification protocols by providing his mobile number for OTP confirmations.
The certificates were issued without being recorded in the family register, keeping village heads uninformed. In Palahi village, where the population is 4,500, 819 birth certificates were issued, all under Muslim names, despite the village having only one Muslim family. Similar irregularities occurred in other villages.
Authorities suspected the scam was intended to facilitate illegal immigration and manipulate official records. Maharashtra faces a similar situation and it appears that there is a systematic attempt to turn illegal immigrants into ‘Bharatiya’ citizens. Because of the huge security threat posed by the illegal infiltrators, strict action needs to be taken against those facilitating their settlement. The suspension of the Tehsildars is only a small and insignificant step. A thorough investigation must be undertaken and all those involved should be punished, including but not limited to dismissal of any official found guilty.
