Pune: The process of birth and death registration in Pune has been completely entrusted to contractual workers, raising serious concerns about forgery and misuse of official documents. Despite strict government regulations, contractual workers appointed by the municipal corporation operate without direct supervision, leading to fraudulent activities such as issuing fake certificates using official digital signatures.
Since 2019, Pune has been using the Central Government's Civil Registration Software (CRS) for birth and death records. Typically, when a baby is born in a hospital, its name and parental details are forwarded to the regional office for registration.
Similarly, when a person dies at home or in a hospital, a death pass is issued and submitted for record-keeping. However, contractual workers, with no oversight from municipal officials, handle document verification, data entry, and certificate issuance. This lack of monitoring has resulted in multiple cases of fraud.
A land fraud case reported at the Dighi Police Station in Shrivardhan Taluka exposed the misuse of Pune's death registration system. Complainant Ramkumar Brahmadutt Agarwal (resident of Camp, Pune) alleged that the accused forged a sale deed by presenting a witness with a similar name to Rajkumar Agarwal.
During the investigation, the police found that Agarwal’s death was recorded as May 25, 2021, but the registration was done only on April 12, 2024, at the Dhankawadi-Sahakar Nagar regional office. Further probe revealed that two contractual workers had taken bribes to issue the forged certificate.
Another case of fraud emerged from the Hadapsar-Mundhwa Ward Office, where a contractual worker manipulated a death certificate date. Sandra D’Silva passed away on December 23, 2024, but her certificate falsely recorded her death as December 13, 2024.
This serious discrepancy was exposed only after the deceased woman's relatives lodged a complaint. Shockingly, the certificate lacked the digital signature of the regional medical officer and deputy registrar, raising concerns over the authenticity of similar documents issued in Pune.
The regional medical officers, who serve as deputy registrars, are responsible for overseeing the birth and death registration system. However, they claim to be too occupied with other responsibilities to verify certificates, effectively leaving the system in the hands of contractual workers.