Haldwani, Jan. 30 -- Another 25 permanent residency certificates in Nainital were cancelled after a district-level probe found them to be issued without valid supporting documents, taking the total number of cancelled certificates to 123, officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The action is part of an ongoing investigation into large-scale irregularities in the issuance of permanent residency certificates over the past five years, which has exposed a systematic racket involving forged and manipulated documents, authorities said. Haldwani sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Rahul Shah said the probe was ordered by Nainital district magistrate Lalit Mohan Rayal after forged documents were detected in several applications. "Around 500 permanent residency certificates issued in the last five years are currently under scrutiny. The inquiry is still in progress and further action will be taken based on its findings," Shah said. Explaining the progress of the probe, Shah said the investigation initially revealed that 50 certificates had been issued on the basis of forged documents. "Subsequently, another 48 certificates were cancelled after discrepancies were found in Aadhaar card details and mobile numbers submitted by the applicants," he said. He added that more than 50 additional cases were later found where permanent residency certificates had been issued without any valid documentary support. "Of these, 25 certificates have been cancelled so far, while scrutiny of the remaining cases is underway," Shah said. According to officials, the fraud first came to light on November 14, 2025, when Kumaon commissioner Deepak Rawat conducted a raid at the premises of a document writer, Faizan Mikrani, in the Banbhulpura area of Haldwani....