Jorhat, Aug 14: Fresh cases of suspected recruitment fraud involving forged Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs) have resurfaced in Assam's Jorhat district, with authorities identifying 11 individuals from outside the state allegedly using fake certificates to secure jobs. “We examined older recruitment records from 2022 to 2026 and identified 11 more individuals who had allegedly used forged PRCs or domicile certificates while applying for jobs,” said Jorhat Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Pankaj Bora.

He said the accused are not residents of Assam but allegedly declared themselves as local residents of Jorhat or Assam to become eligible for recruitment under domicile-linked criteria. " They are not Assamese or local residents of Assam.

They used fake certificates declaring themselves as residents of Assam or Jorhat and have even secured selection," Bora alleged. Among the 11 individuals identified are Arjun Sinwar, Netra Pal, Satish Chandra, Narendra Kumar, Hargobind Singh and Danbir Singh, who were linked to the BSF; Arun Meena linked to the ITBP; Rahul Singh, Pawan Kumar and Aman Kumar Patel linked to the CISF; and Girish Chandra, linked to the CRPF.

The alleged fraud came to light after recruiting agencies sought verification of certificates submitted by candidates. " When verification requests came to us, we found that the certificate numbers quoted by the applicants actually corresponded to entirely different certificates and not domicile certificates.

Some had also applied using forged caste certificates," Bora said. The district administration has forwarded copies of the FIR and verification findings to the concerned recruiting agencies and battalions for necessary action.

While declining to speculate on the involvement of government officials, Bora said he did not believe personnel from the Deputy Commissioner's office were involved, as PRCs are subject to online verification. He, however, suspected that the forged certificates may have been created or altered using artificial intelligence tools and software.

Bora further said the problem was not confined to Jorhat. " I had encountered similar cases while serving in Sonitpur and took appropriate action there as well.

Such cases definitely exist in other districts of Assam," he said. According to Bora, the latest cases bear striking similarities to a fake certificate racket unearthed in June this year, when six non-Assamese youths were found to have allegedly used forged documents while applying for recruitment in central forces.