Fake voter IDs: After 'Dog Babu', 'Trump', 'Cat Kumar' applies for residential certificate in Bihar

New Delhi: Amid the rise of fake applications under the names of Dog Babu, Sonalika Tractor, and Donald Trump in Bihar, the Rohtas district administration had received a false application under the name of Cat Kumar. The application listed Catty Boss and Catiya Devi as the father and mother of the applicant, respectively.

The application was submitted to issue a residential certificate request, with an image of a cat attached to it. Noting the seriousness of the issue, the Rohtas DM Udita Singh instructed Nasriganj revenue officer (RO) Kaushal Patel to file an FIR under the charges of  obstruction of government work and the remaining charges would be booked after the arrest. As per the FIR, the RTPS counter received an online application on July 27 with the mobile and email ID of the person who applied under the name.

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According to the directives of  DM Udita Singh, Kaushal wrote a letter to the police regarding the fake application. It says, “This act of the applicant has obstructed official work. It appears to be a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the government and public services. The online service system has been misused and distorted by the applicant providing a fake name, address, and photo.” As per the FIR, the RTPS counter received an online application on July 27 with the mobile and email ID of the person who applied under the name.

Residents in Bihar are permitted to file online applications under the Bihar Right To Public Service (RTPS) Act, and the submitted applications will go through a series of assessments and will be issued by the official after a detailed verification process has been carried out about the applicant.

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The incident came to light days after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, which made residential certificates  mandatory for voter card verification. Over the last few days, authorities detected numerous fake applications, raising questions over the integrity of the process.

A similar application was submitted in Samastipur district under the name of US President Donald Trump. The request was made through the government portal from the Mohiuddinnagar block. Seeing the rise in fake identity documents, the government demanded thorough scanning of the documents to avoid any such errors in the future.