Mumbai: The Maharashtra govt has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by the special inspector general of Nashik region, to investigate BJP leader Kirit Somaiya‘s claims of fraudulent birth certificates issued to Bangladeshis and Rohingyas by the local tehsildar and civic offices in Malegaon.
Raising concerns about what he terms a “Bangladeshi-Rohingya birth certificate scam” in Malegaon, Somaiya claimed that approximately 1,000 Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingyas have obtained birth certificates through misrepresentation, which facilitated the process of them acquiring Indian citizenship.
The Govt of India’s 2023 amendment to the Registration of Birth and Deaths Act authorised tehsildar offices to give directions for issuance of birth certificates for home births within specified timeframes. However, Somaiya contended that “older individuals have exploited this provision”. “In some cases, birth certificates have been issued to people above 50 years of age without verifying any of their details,” he alleged.
The BJP has intensified its focus on the presence of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants in Malegaon. Previously, the party had alleged that the area served as a distribution hub for questionable funds during the parliamentary elections.