THANE, May 30 -- BJP leader Kirit Somaiya on Friday alleged that more than 10,000 bogus birth certificates may have been issued by civic bodies in Thane district, including the Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Ulhasnagar municipal corporations. Somaiya visited the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) and Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) offices in connection with the alleged fake birth certificate racket. He met officials and urged the civic bodies to conduct a detailed probe and initiate action. Addressing the media at the UMC headquarters, Somaiya said the issue surfaced after an alleged fake birth certificate scam involving nearly one lakh certificates came to light in Mumbai over the past year. "Following the scam, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT). According to the SIT's interim findings, nearly 20,000 certificates were allegedly issued in the names of fake individuals," Somaiya said. He claimed that information received by him indicated that over 10,000 bogus birth certificates could have been issued in Thane district alone, with the names of more than 6,000 certificate holders already identified. "This is not merely a case of fake documents, but a serious issue concerning citizenship and national security. Some identities could belong to ghost beneficiaries or illegal Bangladeshi immigrants," he alleged. Somaiya further expressed suspicion that Pune may also have more than 15,000 cases of bogus birth certificates and announced that he would visit Pune on Tuesday to gather more information regarding the matter....