3 men generated Aadhaar, Voter ID on fake documents for ₹10,000, arrested

DEHRADUN: Three men including a common services centre (CSC) operator have been arrested in Rishikesh by the special task force (STF) of the Uttarakhand police on charges that they were issuing Aadhaar cards, voter identity cards and permanent account numbers (PAN cards) on the basis of fake or forged documents, police said on Tuesday.

STF senior superintendent of police Ayush Agarwal said the three were arrested on Monday evening, hours after an Aadhaar card and voter ID was delivered to a police decoy, a Nepalese national, for ₹10,000. According to the government identity documents arranged by the accused, the Nepalese national was a resident of a village in the Pauri Garhwal district 150km from Rishikesh.

Apart from CSC operator Lakshman Singh Saini, police identified the other suspects as his brother Babu Saini and Bharat Singh, a native of Nepal living in Kalyasaur area of Pauri Garhwal district.

CSC provides information technology-enabled access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes and other government services.

To be sure, Aadhaar numbers can be issued to foreigners living in the country but they are required to declare their nationality.

“So far, it has come to light that they were making fake identity documents of Nepalese citizens,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal added that use of fake documents for government identity documents has long been an area of concern since these can be used for criminal or anti-national activities. Like issuing a mobile number used by criminals that cannot be traced back to them and defeats the purpose of requiring people to submit their identity documents for SIM cards.

Agarwal said they were yet to estimate the number of identity cards that the group issued during the past year. “It seems to be a big racket,” the police officer said, adding that they are trying to ascertain how they ensured field verification. It is possible that some people are also involved.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in April this year said there were “unauthorised people” living in the hill state and asked officials to conduct a state-wide verification drive. It is not clear if the drive was carried out or its outcome. Later in July, the Uttarakhand police made it mandatory for people from outside the state to present an affidavit certifying the accuracy of the identity documents and produce a certified copy of their character certificate issued by the police of their native place.