Fake birth registration of 153 Rohingyas, UP chairman suspended

The Local Government Division has temporarily suspended the chairman of a union at Rajnagar upazila in Moulvibazar on charges of providing fake birth registrations for 153 Rohingyas.

Nakul Chandra Das, chairman of Fatepur Union, was suspended through a notification signed by Senior Assistant Secretary AKM Anisuzzaman on April 24. However, the Moulvibazar deputy commissioner did not say anything clearly while talking about the issue.

According to Upazila Nirbahi Officer's Office, on September 18, a Rohingya woman named Asia Bibi (27) was detained by the authorities while applying for a passport at the Shariatpur Regional Passport Office. She lacked an ID card and was attempting to apply for the passport using birth registration certificate. Asia Bibi's birth was registered at Fatehpur union on September 9 last year.

The arrested woman was identified as the daughter of Ali Johar and Ambia Khatun of the Teknaf police station in Cox's Bazar.

Sources concerned said the higher authorities requested verification from the Rajnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Moulvibazar. The UNO then called Fatehpur Union Secretary Papri Dutta to his office to inquire about the issue. The birth registration ID for that union was then deactivated. Officials concerned suspected that that several hundred Rohingyas had completed birth registration through the union.

After verification, the then UNO unearthed 153 cases of fake birth registration until September 9 last year. It was suspected that all of them are Rohingyas.

Nakul Chandra Das, chairman of Fatehpur Union, filed a general diary with Rajnagar Police Station in this regard.
Investigation by the UNO found that several lkhs of taka have been illegally transacted through the birth registration of 153 Rohingyas. Nakul Chandra Das and digital center officer of the union Nayan Gupta, among others, were involved in this fraudulency.

According to Registrar General's office, the operation of birth registration server is based on OTP. After receiving the OTP, the union chairman verifies and recommends the registration. Therefore, it is not possible to complete the birth registration process without the involvement of UP chairman. Despite strict security, doubts have arisen about how the ID was hacked. The matter was later investigated by the office of the Registrar General.

Zahid Hossain, Registrar General (Additional Secretary), said, "We investigated the incident, identified the responsible parties, and submitted a report to the Ministry of Local Government."

In this regard, AKM Anisuzzaman, senior assistant secretary of the local government division, said, "We suspended that union chairman after receiving the investigation report from the Registrar General."

Union Parishad Chairman Nakul Chandra Das, however, claimed that the fake registrations were completed by hacking the server. “The birth certificates do not have our signatures. I don't know what measures have been taken by the ministry,” he said.

Moulvibazar Deputy Commissioner Dr Urmi Binte Salam said, "A letter has arrived in this regard. I haven't seen it yet."