Pune News: Death Certificate Fraud Exposed in PMC, Two Civic Employees Arrested
Pune News: Death Certificate Fraud Exposed in PMC, Two Civic Employees Arrested
Pune: Raigad police have exposed a major death certificate fraud within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and arrested two contract employees from the birth and death registration office. The accused, Swapnil Nigade and Shubham Pasalkar from the Kondhwa ward office, confessed to forging a death certificate for financial gain.
The duo allegedly created a fake death certificate for Pune resident Ramkumar Agarwal to facilitate the illegal sale of his one-acre property in Shrivardhan, Raigad district. The fraudulent document was used multiple times to execute the sale.
The scam surfaced when Agarwal, a resident of Camp, filed a police complaint after discovering that his property in Konkan had been sold without his knowledge. During the investigation, PMC confirmed in writing that no application for Agarwal’s death certificate had been received or issued. A further probe revealed that Nigade and Pasalkar were responsible for generating the fake certificate.
Police officials stated that Dr. Amit Shah, who signed the forged death certificate, will be arrested soon.
PMC Orders Probe, Warns Officers Against Document Tampering
In response to the incident, Additional Municipal Commissioner Prithviraj BP ordered a detailed inquiry into the case. Additionally, Additional Health Officer Suryakant Devkar issued a circular to all regional medical officers handling birth, death, and marriage registrations.
“It has been observed that many cases do not follow the legal process. Lower-level clerks and data operators with access to system passwords are making unauthorized corrections to official documents. Strict action will be taken against regional medical officers if public complaints are found valid,” Devkar stated.
The investigation is ongoing, and further arrests are expected as police continue to crack down on civic malpractice.
