Fake heavy vehicle driving licences racket busts

Chandigarh, August 5, 2025 : Aiming to curb the menace of corruption among the public servants, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has unearthed a major corruption racket involving the issuance of fake heavy vehicle driving licences , exposing a nexus between officials of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Gurdaspur, the State Institute of Automobile and Driving Skills Centre (SIADS) Mahuana, in Sri Mukatsar Sahib district and private document agents operating in Gurdaspur district. In this case, the VB has registered a corruption case against seven accused and arrested four of them, including the Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI).

VB Registers FIR Against RTA Gurdaspur Data Entry Operator for Fake heavy vehicle driving licences

          Disclosing this here today an official spokesperson of the State VB said acting on a complaint received from a resident of Pathankot, the Bureau has launched an in-depth probe against Pratibha Sharma, a Data Entry Operator at RTA Gurdaspur. Following investigations, VB Police Station Amritsar range registered FIR No. 32 on August 4, 2025, under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, IPC, and IT Act.

          He further added that the verification revealed a discrepancy. 23 out of 51 driving training certificates, reportedly from SIADS centre Mahuana, were fake. Only 27 legitimate certificate numbers were on record. Crucially, system-generated fields like the unique certificate number, QR code, and embedded mobile number within the receipt number are secure. Only institute officials could alter these fields. These are vital markers of authenticity. Any mismatch among these parameters confirmed fraudulent creation.

VB Busts Bribe-for-Fake-Driving-Certificates Racket, Arrests Four

          The spokesperson informed that the investigation identified the role of private agents. These agents include Kulbir Documents Center, Shelly Documents Center, GMD Documents Center, and Punjab Documents. They were involved in sourcing applicants. They also facilitated forged documentation in exchange for bribes. Financial trails showed direct payments from these agents into the bank accounts of Rakesh KumarHe formerly worked as an RTA Data Entry Operator and now serves at the SDM Office Batala. Officials also deposited payments into Pratibha Sharma’s account. Sukhdev Singh, Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) Instructor and GI Driving In-charge at SIADS Mahuana, misused his access to the system. He generated fake certificates. This caused direct financial loss to the state exchequer by illegally claiming Rs. 430 government fee per certificate.

          In this case, the VB has arrested four key accused. They are Sukhdev Singh, MVI, and GI driving incharge SIADS centre who is a resident of village Maidowal Kalan in Gurdaspur. Amit Kumar alias Shelly from Shelly Documents Center is arrested. Jagpreet Singh from Punjab Documents is also in custody. Rakesh Kumar, currently posted in Batala, is among the arrested. Raids are underway to arrest the remaining three accused. They are Kulbir Singh of Kulbir Documents Center, Rakesh Kumar of GMD Documents Center, and Pratibha Sharma of RTA Gurdaspur.The VB will present all arrested individuals before the competent court tomorrow. Further investigation into this case was under progress, he added.