New Delhi: A disability board member, a senior malaria inspector and staffers of the CMO in Uttar Pradesh were among nine people arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly running an interstate network that forged Persons with Disabilities (PwD) certificates to help students secure college admissions. The racket allegedly used AI tools to manipulate Aadhaar cards, change students’ addresses to UP districts and then exploit the UDID system to generate fake disability certificates.Police said the certificates were being used for admission to BTech, JBT and other undergraduate courses at Delhi University under the PwD quota.Special CP Devesh Chandra Srivastava had formed teams for the investigation.Joint CP Madhur Verma said, “The investigation began on Aug 31, when we received information about Lalit Kumar alias Aditya, 36, an Aligarh resident living in Faridabad, who was allegedly arranging forged PwD certificates for students in return for substantial payments. He was apprehended near Delhi University’s North Campus with 16 certificates issued by govt hospitals in Badaun, Bareilly and Siddharth Nagar, besides three mobile phones and a laptop.”During interrogation, police said Lalit disclosed that students’ personal details were sourced through education consultants. Their Aadhaar addresses were allegedly altered using AI tools to show addresses in districts including Siddharth Nagar, Badaun, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and other locations. Applications were then uploaded on the UDID portal, while associates arranged certificates from different hospitals for Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 each.Among those arrested was Roshan Kumar (34), who runs an educational consultancy in Noida. Police alleged he collected students’ Aadhaar details, photographs and signatures and passed them to Lalit. He also allegedly provided OTPs received on students’ registered mobile numbers to facilitate UDID applications.“Kuldeep, 28, a contractual computer operator working on the UDID portal at the CMO in Bareilly, was arrested on Sept 3. Police seized his phone containing chats and documents linked to disability certificates, along with the desktop allegedly used to prepare forged medical reports,” said DCP (North) Niharika Bhatt. Dr Laxmi Kant Saxena (60), a member of the Bareilly disability board, and Sher Singh Solanki (40) were subsequently apprehended. Police also recovered financial transaction records involving Kuldeep, Saxena and doctors.Jai Prakash Shukla (48), senior malaria inspector at Siddharth Nagar and working in its divyang office, was arrested on Sept 10. Police alleged he misused his official position to facilitate certificates carrying Siddharth Nagar addresses for monetary consideration. Several lakh rupees were allegedly routed through his account and that of an acquaintance, Surendra Rastogi, who was apprehended on Sept 19.Adesh Singh (26) was arrested in Sitapur on Sept 12, with nine disability certificates recovered from his Lucknow residence. Dhirender Kumar Pandey (32), a junior assistant at the CMO in Deoria, was apprehended on Sept 18 and allegedly supplied forged certificates to the absconding accused Chandan Singh Yadav for Rs 5,000 each.Police recovered 27 forged disability certificates, 11 mobile phones, two laptops, a desktop computer, Rs 75,000 in cash and a Mercedes car during the investigation.Police said the role of doctors at the hospitals concerned and the students in whose names the certificates were issued is being examined.
