Two people have been arrested in Gujarat’s Surat city for using a website to forge documents such as Aadhaar and PAN cards as well as voter ID cards and pose a serious threat to national security.
Officials said the accused forged around two lakh identity proof documents like Aadhaar and PAN cards and sold them for Rs 15 to Rs 200 each.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic Crimes) VK Parmar said a complaint was received from officials of a private bank that some people had received loans on the basis of fake documents and had not made the payments. An investigation was launched into this and six people were arrested about two weeks ago on charges of forgery and cheating. One of the accused was identified as Prince Hemant Prasad.
Prasad told during interrogation that he accessed the website with his registered username and password to download fake Aadhaar and PAN cards on payment of Rs 15-50 per document. Based on the input, the police began investigating the website.
Used to take a loan from the bank
On investigation, it was found that the fake identity cards downloaded from the website were used for purposes such as getting bank loans sanctioned and buying SIM cards, the official said. Two more persons have been arrested in this case, who have been identified as Somnath Pramod Kumar, a resident of Ganganagar and Premveer Singh Thakur, a resident of Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
He said Pramod Kumar, who was recently arrested through technical surveillance, was linked to several mobile numbers listed on the website. Police said the mastermind behind the crime could be Kumar. At the same time, a website was created in the name of Premveer.
VK Parmar said that when the accused were interrogated, it was revealed that these people had forged around two lakh identity documents in two years. Somnath has studied till class five. He had received technical assistance from some people to carry out the illegal activity. The site has been up and running for the past three years.
The official said this is a serious national security issue. They not only change the documents but access the government database and this is a case of illegal authorization. He said more people may be behind this crime. Currently, the police have frozen Rs 25 lakh in the bank accounts of Pramod Kumar and his mother.
