Mau — Kotwali Nagar police, backed by the Special Operations Group and a surveillance team, arrested Rajkumar Rajbhar near Khwajajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh's Mau district on Sunday after an investigation exposed an alleged fake-death scheme, police said.
Source: Particle News
According to police, the scheme began on May 30, 2025, when Rajbhar allegedly staged funeral rites in Ghazipur, cremated a goat in place of a body, and produced photographs to support a false claim that he had died. The core account — a goat funeral and an AI-generated image used to fake a death in court — was also reported by Hindustan Times, citing PTI.
Source: Hindustan Times (PTI)
How the certificate was allegedly obtained
Police allege that an AI-generated image showing a body on a funeral pyre was submitted along with forged paperwork to the Mau Municipal Council, which then issued a death certificate. That certificate was filed in court in the 2016 murder case in which Rajbhar was accused of killing Yogesh Singh, allegedly in an attempt to halt the prosecution.
Source: Particle News
Officers have registered a new case over the allegedly forged documents and have revived the 2016 murder prosecution, police said. Investigators are also probing alleged financial fraud linked to investment money Rajbhar is said to have collected. All of the allegations are yet to be tested in court.
Source: Particle News
The case has drawn attention to gaps in how death registrations are verified, with police saying the combination of a physically staged funeral, photographs and an AI-generated image was used to fabricate official evidence. Further investigation is underway, police said.
Source: Particle News