Delhi Police busts inter-state forged PwD certificate racket, 9 arrested
Synopsis
Delhi Police has cracked an inter-state syndicate that used AI tools and government insiders at CMO offices across Uttar Pradesh to manufacture fake PwD certificates, selling each for up to ₹30,000 to help students fraudulently claim disability quota seats in colleges. Nine people arrested, including a disability board member and government employees — exposing a systemic breach at the heart of India's disability certification infrastructure.
Key Takeaways
Delhi Police's North District Special Staff busted an inter-state forged PwD certificate racket on 31 August 2026 .
Nine people have been arrested and 27 forged disability certificates recovered.
The network used AI tools to alter Aadhaar details and exploited the UDID portal with help from government insiders at CMO offices in Bareilly, Siddharth Nagar, and Deoria.
Forged certificates were sold for amounts between ₹20,000 and ₹30,000 each to help students gain admission under the PwD reservation category .
Among those arrested: a Bareilly disability board member , a CMO office contractual employee , and a Senior Malaria Inspector in Siddharth Nagar.
A case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 ; further arrests are not ruled out.
Delhi Police's Special Staff of the North District has dismantled a major inter-state network that allegedly manufactured and sold forged Persons with Disabilities (PwD) certificates to help students secure admissions under the disability quota at colleges and undergraduate courses including Delhi University, B.Tech programmes, and JBT courses. A total of nine people have been apprehended and 27 forged disability certificates recovered since the investigation began on 31 August 2026.
How the Racket Operated
According to police, the network relied on a multi-layered chain of middlemen, education consultants, and government employees. Accused persons allegedly collected students' personal data — Aadhaar details, photographs, and signatures — then used AI-based tools to alter Aadhaar addresses to show fake residential addresses in districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Siddharth Nagar, Badaun, Bareilly, and Gorakhpur. These manipulated details were then submitted on the Unique Disability ID (UDID) portal to obtain forged disability certificates, which were sold to students for amounts reportedly ranging between ₹20,000 and ₹30,000 per certificate.
The certificates covered categories including hearing impairment, locomotor disability, and low vision, and were allegedly issued through government hospital networks in Badaun, Bareilly, and Siddharth Nagar. Associates posted at Chief Medical Officer (CMO) offices in multiple UP districts were allegedly complicit in the preparation and approval of these documents.
Key Arrests and Timeline
The case was triggered on 31 August when Inspector Rohit Saraswat, In-charge of Special Staff, North District, received a tip-off that Lalit Kumar alias Aditya, 36, a resident of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, was arranging forged PwD certificates in exchange for money. A raiding team supervised by ACP/Operations Vishesh Dhatterwal apprehended Lalit Kumar from Faridabad, Haryana. Sixteen PwD certificates, three mobile phones, and a laptop were recovered from him.
On 1 September, Roshan Kumar, who runs Rudra Consultancy in Sector 18, Noida, was arrested. Police alleged he aggregated students' data and facilitated UDID applications by sharing OTPs received on students' phones with Lalit Kumar.
On 3 September, Kuldeep, 28, a contractual employee working on the UDID portal at the CMO Office in Bareilly, was arrested. At his instance, Sher Singh Solanki and Dr Laxmi Kant Saxena, a member of the Bareilly disability board, were also apprehended. A desktop computer allegedly used to prepare forged medical reports was seized.
Jaiprakash Shukla, a Senior Malaria Inspector posted at the CMO Office in Siddharth Nagar, was arrested on 10 September for allegedly misusing his official position to approve certificates in exchange for money. Surendra Rastogi, whose bank account was allegedly used for related financial transactions, was held on 19 September.
On 12 September, Adesh Singh was arrested from Sitapur, with nine disability certificates recovered from his residence in Lucknow. On 18 September, Dhirender Kumar Pandey, a Junior Assistant at the CMO Office in Deoria, was arrested for allegedly preparing forged certificates and handing them over to one Chandan Singh Yadav for ₹5,000 per certificate. Chandan was reportedly absconding when police searched in Gorakhpur.
Legal Action and Charges
A case has been registered at Maurice Nagar Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The involvement of government employees at CMO offices in multiple districts points to an institutional breach that investigators say extended well beyond a single rogue operator.
Wider Implications
The racket illustrates how the digitisation of disability certification — intended to streamline access for genuine beneficiaries — has been exploited through insider access and AI-enabled document manipulation. Notably, this is not an isolated incident; similar forged-certificate scams targeting reservation categories have surfaced in other states, raising questions about the adequacy of verification safeguards on the UDID portal. The PwD reservation category exists to protect one of India's most vulnerable groups, and its misuse directly displaces genuinely disabled candidates from seats they are entitled to.
Further investigation is underway, and police have not ruled out additional arrests.
Point of View
A disability board member, and a government malaria inspector all allegedly on the payroll of middlemen, the problem is not merely a gap in digital security but a collapse of human oversight inside the very offices that certify disability. The UDID portal was built to make the system tamper-proof; instead, it became a single point of compromise once insiders were bought. Until verification is decoupled from the same offices that issue certificates — through independent cross-checks or third-party audits — the fraud risk will persist regardless of how sophisticated the portal becomes. Meanwhile, every fake certificate that secured a seat displaced a genuinely disabled candidate, a harm that aggregate arrest tallies cannot undo.
NationPress
8 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the forged PwD certificate racket busted by Delhi Police?
It is an inter-state network that allegedly manufactured fake Persons with Disabilities (PwD) certificates and sold them to students seeking admission under the disability quota at colleges and undergraduate courses. The racket involved AI-based Aadhaar manipulation and insiders at CMO offices across Uttar Pradesh, with certificates sold for ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 each.
How many people have been arrested and what was recovered?
Nine people have been arrested in a series of operations between 31 August and 19 September 2026. Police recovered 27 forged disability certificates, multiple mobile phones, a laptop, and a desktop computer allegedly used to prepare forged medical reports.
How did the accused forge the disability certificates?
According to police, the accused used AI-based tools to alter Aadhaar card details to reflect fake addresses in Uttar Pradesh districts, then submitted applications on the UDID portal. Associates employed at CMO offices in Bareilly, Siddharth Nagar, and Deoria allegedly processed and approved the certificates from within the system.
Who are the key accused in the case?
The key accused include Lalit Kumar alias Aditya (the alleged kingpin), Roshan Kumar of Rudra Consultancy in Noida, Kuldeep (a contractual UDID portal employee at Bareilly CMO office), Dr Laxmi Kant Saxena (a Bareilly disability board member), Jaiprakash Shukla (a Senior Malaria Inspector at Siddharth Nagar CMO office), and Dhirender Kumar Pandey (Junior Assistant at Deoria CMO office).
What charges have been filed and what happens next?
A case has been registered at Maurice Nagar Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Police say further investigation is ongoing, and at least one accused — Chandan Singh Yadav — was reportedly absconding when searches were conducted in Gorakhpur.
