MARGAO: Fatorda police, late on Wednesday evening, booked two persons in connection with a fake residence certificate racket that was exposed following a complaint lodged by the Civil Registrar of Salcete, Suraj R Vernekar.
Fatorda police have registered an offence under Sections 465, 466, 471 read with Section 34 of IPC against Saddamhusen Shahajan Kamate, resident of Fatorda, and Bhosale Ranjeet Rajkumar, resident of Ponda, and others. According to the case registered, the two accused, with their common intention, forged a residence certificate bearing number REV052384308-64049. Further, they allegedly uploaded the fake certificates from Bhosale’s Common Service Centre office at Margao to register Saddamhusen’s marriage and the marriages of several others also, in the office of Salcete District Registrar.
District Registrar Suraj Vernekar filed a complaint before the Fatorda police after his office discovered fake residential certificates being furnished to register marriages, prompting a detailed probe.
It was observed that the residence certificates attached were not issued by any office of Mamlatdar.
The search revealed that four residence certificates had the same serial number, while another was found to have been signed by a Mamlatdar who had been transferred to another place.
"The concerned parties informed us during our enquiry, that the agent had collected a huge amount from them to issue the certificates,” said Vernekar.
Vernekar appealed to people not to fall prey to such fake agents and to collect certificates only from the designated authority. He added that it is important to verify the authenticity of the third party they approach for any such work.
PSI Amin Naik is investigating the matter under the supervision of PI Nathan Almeida.