BENGALURU: State police have removed the Aadhaar numbers and PAN of victims of the Gruha Kalyan housing scam from their official website.

The action comes after TOI in its May 3, 2018 edition (“Karnataka police share Aadhaar details of housing scam victims on website”) reported that police had uploaded the information.

Sources in the police department said they didn’t know whether the details could be shared or not. “Whoever has provided the data has ignored the fact that Aadhaar details shouldn’t be shared in public domain,” said an officer on condition of anonymity. Cyber security experts and bankers had expressed concern over the data being misused.

Efforts to contact the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) went in vain.

One of the victims, Dr C Giridharan from Chennai, said he was relieved to know the details had been removed. Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, any individual, entity or agency in possession of Aadhaar number(s) shall ensure security and confidentiality of the database containing them.

Police have now uploaded the list of victims of the Dreamz Infra India housing scam, which runs into Rs 371 crore, ensuring their Aadhaar details are safe. As on May 4, 3,556 people have filed complaints with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The firm, Dreamz Infra, is run by one of the accused Disha. She is the ex-wife of Sachin Naik, alleged kingpin in the case. Naik has allegedly duped thousands of people of over Rs 500 crore through several firms he floated, including Gruha Kalyan, Dreamz Infra and TGS. CID, which took over the case in March 2017, is yet to file a chargesheet.

