Hyderabad: The Special Operations Team (SOT) sleuths of RC Puram, along with Cyberabad cybercrime police, busted a gang involved in selling fake birth and death certificates on Wednesday. The accused were identified as Md Yahiya (33), who operates a gift and novelties shop at Rahmath Nagar in Yousufguda; his associates, Venkatesh (35), a Mee-Seva centre worker from Yousufguda; and Md Saleem (40), a delivery executive from Qutbullapur.Acting on specific information, police arrested Yahiya in Yousufguda on Wednesday and seized 71 fake birth and death certificates, along with a computer and printer. Based on his confession, police arrested Venkatesh and Saleem. According to cybercrime police, during the interrogation, Yahiya confessed that he had learnt about a particular website through Telegram. The webiste allows users to register themselves and download printable birth and death certificates after entering an individual’s details and uploading a photograph.“One has to pay Rs 150 to register on the website, which charges Rs 25 for generating each fake certificate. Once a photograph of an individual and details such as date of birth, location of birth are uploaded, it takes barely 10 seconds to generate a printable document resembling a birth or death certificate issued by Mee Seva,” said a cybercrime official.Yahiya also procured hologram-embedded paper, which is available with Mee Seva centre operators, through Venkatesh to print the fake certificates. Saleem, meanwhile, used to bring him clients in return for a commission of Rs 500. “Yahiya has been selling fake certificates since 2025 and was charging Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 for each certificate,” said a police officer. The accused, along with the seized material, were handed over to Cyberabad cybercrime police for further investigation.
