Ghazipur (UP), Apr 10 (PTI) The Ghazipur district magistrate (DM) has suspended 10 Lekhpals (revenue officials) for their involvement in issuing fraudulent income certificates.

The suspended lekhpals include Shivcharan Yadav (Saidpur Tehsil), Sukhbir Singh (Sadar Tehsil), Vinod Yadav, Rahul Yadav, Rajesh Tiwari, Abhinav Singh (Jakhania Tehsil), Ajit Kumar Pandey (Zamania Tehsil), Sujit Yadav, Radheshyam Yadav and Sanjay Prajapati (Kasimabad Tehsil).

The DM’s action comes after it was discovered that these fake certificates were being used to obtain government jobs and other benefits.

District Magistrate Aryaka Akhouri said the matter came to light when it was found that certain Lekhpals were issuing Below Poverty Line (BPL) income certificates to individuals living above the poverty line.

“Ten such instances were identified where individuals attempted to secure Anganwadi worker positions using these fabricated documents,” said the DM.

Acting on this information, the appointment of nine individuals was halted and the appointment of a steno’s daughter, who also used a fake certificate, was cancelled. Consequently, the woman resigned from her position.

Further investigation revealed that a lekhpal in Jakhania had been issuing income, caste and residence certificates using the official IDs of several transferred lekhpals. An FIR has been lodged against this individual and a comprehensive investigation is underway. PTI COR CDN CDN KSS KSS