Gang member arrested in UP for fake freedom fighter certificates

Police in Bhadohi have arrested a key member of a gang accused of securing MBBS admissions for nine students in Uttar Pradesh’s government and autonomous medical colleges using forged ‘freedom fighter family’ certificates, officials said on Monday.The arrested accused, Shubham Singh (27), a resident of Jigna in Mirzapur district, worked as a lab technician at a government health centre in Zamania, Ghazipur. According to officials, he was caught by Gyanpur police on Sunday while allegedly collecting a pre-decided payment from an MBBS aspirant.During the operation, police recovered Rs4.8 lakh from Shubham, part of the Rs5 lakh he had allegedly taken from the father of candidate Divyanshu Verma, Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik said. Shubham had reportedly struck a deal of Rs15 lakh to secure Divyanshu’s MBBS admission using a fake freedom fighter certificate.
According to information shared by the police, the director general of medical education and training (UP) had, on August 27, 2025, requested verification of certificates submitted by nine students from different parts of Bhadohi who had secured admission under the freedom fighter quota during the 2012-13 academic session. The DGME flagged irregularities after the submitted documents appeared suspicious.The students identified in the probe include Shambhavi Arya, Divyanshu Verma, Sejal Singh, Shivansh Yadav, Anvi Bhushan, Amit Srivastava, Ayatuzzahra, Isha Yadav and Deepika Arya. Verification conducted by the office of the district magistrate later confirmed that none of the nine certificates had been officially issued, establishing that all were forged.
Following a complaint filed by clerk Shahid Ali, an FIR was registered on September 20, 2025, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to cheating and forgery, on the orders of District Magistrate Shailesh Kumar.During questioning, Divyanshu told investigators that Shubham and his associate, Pardeep Dubey, had arranged the fake certificate for his NEET-2025 admission. He also said the duo had demanded Rs15 lakh from his father, Dr. Ghanshyam Verma, who is posted at the Zamania health centre. Of this, Rs5 lakh was to be handed over on Sunday, with the remaining amount to be paid later.Police arrested Shubham near the Singhpur canal bridge in the Gyanpur area and recovered the cash. According to officials, he admitted to taking money from Dr. Verma and confirmed that more individuals were involved in the racket.