Uttarakhand: Common Service Centre worker Faizan caught misusing mobile numbers, documents of people to make forged residence certificates in Haldwani

Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat conducted raids at two Common Service Centres (CSC) in the Banbhulpura area of ​​Haldwani, Uttarakhand on Thursday (12th November), following a complaint of forged permanent residence certificates. Commissioner Rawat directed the authorities to file a case against the two CSCs.

According to reports, Faizan Mikarani, a clerk working in the Haldwani tehsil that runs the CSCs, was caught forging documents. Faizan fraudulently forged a permanent residence certificate in the name of Raees Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh for another person with the same name.

हल्द्वानी के बनभूलपुरा स्थित कॉमन सर्विस सेंटर (सीएससी) में कुमाऊं कमिश्नर दीपक रावत ने अचानक छापेमारी कर बड़ा खुलासा किया। यहां रईस अहमद द्वारा नकली स्थाई निवास प्रमाण पत्र समेत अन्य दस्तावेजों बनाए गए। pic.twitter.com/xiYqgGH4jk

— bhUpi Panwar (@askbhupi) November 13, 2025

The matter came to light after Raees Ahmed, a resident of Bareilly, filed a complaint with the Commissioner. Ahmed said that a permanent residence certificate was forged in his name for someone else. An investigation into the complaint revealed that the fake certificates were created by Faizan Mikarani.

Subsequently, Commissioner Deepak Rawat raided Faizan’s home and his CSC centre and recovered documents, including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, voter ID cards, and electricity bills belonging to several people. Preliminary investigations revealed that an individual’s mobile number was misused by Faizan to create fake documents. Commissioner Deepak Rawat stated that this action exposed a long-standing fraud. He ordered all tehsils to prepare all types of certificates and documents with complete transparency, so that such incidents are not repeated in future.

During the raid, Commissioner Rawat found the second CSC of Faizan in Banbhulpura closed. Rawat said that anyone found operating without a license within the Tehsil premises will face action. He also spoke to Devendra Pandey and his wife, Nandi Pandey, and Jalees, in whose names Faizan created fake email IDs. The investigation also disclosed that some other officials were also involved in the forging of documents. Commissioner Rawat came across several old electricity bills, which were fraudulently used by the culprits with forged documents. He directed the SDM Haldwani to question the Patwari of the area involved in verifying the documents online. He directed the Police Circle Officer to thoroughly investigate the matter and take action.

Encroachment in Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani

The Banbhoopura area in the Nainital district has long been grappling with the problem of encroachment. The current raids by Commissioner Rawat at the CSCs in the area expose how the forged documents are being used by illegal residents in the area.

In February 2024, the Banbhoolpura area witnessed massive violence after the local administration took action against encroachment. A Muslim mob pelted stones and committed arson after authorities went to raze a madrasa built on illegally encroached government land near the Banbhoolpura police station under a drive against illegal encroachments. The violent mob surrounded the Banbhoolpura police station and set vehicles stationed there ablaze. The mob also attacked Haldwani Municipal Corporation workers, including the SDM. The violence left several dead and over 100 police personnel injured.

A similar incident of violence happened in January 2023 in Haldwani, when authorities, in compliance with a High Court order, tried to remove encroachment from the land belonging to the Indian Railways. Around 4000 families had been illegally residing on the railway land. The protesters (mostly Muslims) claimed that the clearance of encroachments would affect a large number of women, children, and elderly persons residing in the area. The railway department had been facing difficulty in expanding the railway tracks due to encroachers squatting on the railway land. Several requests for increasing railway tracks in the region, according to the railway officials, were previously submitted to the government but were thwarted due to encroachment.