8 held for producing fake birth certificates

parents and two people acting as agents were arrested on Thursday for producing fake birth certificates to avail admissions in the first round of the Right to Education (RTE) quota. The agents allegedly helped acquire the fake certificates.

The dates of birth were changed so that it could fit the eligibility bracket — between three and five years depending on the class applied to. The dates was changed to September 30, 2017 from July 31, 2017.

The scam came to light when Rebecca Shinde, principal, Chetumal Bhoolchand Murlidhar School, Sion, was checking the documents of the students. She noticed that six birth certificates were issued on March 17, 2017, just a day before the deadline for confirming admissions.

Shinde asked the parents to submit proof of their pregnancy — medical records or doctors’ bills — but they were unable to do so. “I informed the education department officials,” she said. “I got no help.”

Shinde approached the BMC ward office in the F/north zone and found that the registration numbers on the documents didn’t match with the BMC records “The certificates bear the signa ture of the deputy municipal med ical officer. It is surprising that the he didn’t notice the discrep ancy while signing,” she said.

The school has cancelled admissions. “We will not allow them to continue as RTE stu dents, they will have to pay the normal fee if they want to remain in the school,” said Shinde.

“A case of cheating and for gery has been registered against them, ” said Nasir Shaikh, senior inspector, Antop Hill police. The accused have been remanded in police custody.

“The principal didn’t inform us before approaching the police,” said Mahesh Palkar, edu cation officer, BMC education department, which conducts the admissions.