New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) Three men were nabbed in as many raids in the city, leading to the unearthing of a massive cache of forged documents, laptops, hard disks loaded with editing software used in generating fake identities, an officer on Monday said.
The accused, part of a gang, used fake thumb impressions and iris scans to illegally operate Aadhaar software for demographic updates, he said.
“On April 19, a team from Turkman Gate Police Post in central Delhi, received a tip-off during routine patrolling. They raided a shop located in the Chitli Kabar area. The police apprehended one man, identified as Ashish (26), a resident of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, who was caught red-handed in possession of numerous forged documents,” the police officer said.
During their search, police discovered 121 Aadhaar cards, 73 fake PAN cards — some carrying fake holograms — 181 voter ID cards, several birth certificates, and many mark sheets. Blank and incomplete voter ID cards were also seized, said the officer.
Ashish accessed Aadhaar update systems by using fabricated rubber thumb impressions and pre-recorded iris scans of authorised operators to make updates to Aadhaar demographic details such as name, date of birth and address, he said.
“Upon interrogation, Ashish revealed that he, along with two associates, was running a systematic operation of preparing fake identity documents. His associates, Toshif and Md Firoz, were operating from nearby shops and were actively involved in preparing counterfeit documents for clients seeking Aadhaar updates,” the officer said.
At his instance, police arrested Satish, 36, a resident of Uttam Nagar, with a laptop filled with fake templates and document editing software in his possession.
From Daryaganj, they nabbed Md Firoz, who confessed to preparing and supplying forged documents for illegal Aadhaar updates.
Toshif, however, remains at large and hunt for him is on, he said.
In all, police seized three laptops and six hard disks.
It was also found that the gang used duplicate biometric impressions to bypass security layers in the Aadhaar system, a serious breach with grave implications for identity security and national KYC processes.
The officer said the accused would first create fake supporting documents such as birth certificates, PAN cards, and voter ID cards. These were then used to fraudulently update demographic data in Aadhaar records through cloned thumb impressions and iris scans of genuine operators.
“We have registered an FIR at Chandni Mahal Police Station and further investigation into the matter is underway,” he said. PTI BM BM VN VN
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