The shop where fake Aadhaar cards were being made. Gadgets used by the accused; some cards seized by the cops.

AHMEDABAD: At a time when debates rage about the security of Aadhaar data, Ahmedabad police has busted a major Aadhaar scam , which was being run at a grocery shop in Gomtipur. Three persons have been arrested, including an authorised agent, Jignesh Mangroliya, 27, a resident of Nikol. The others arrested are Wasim Mansuri, 25, and his father Ibrahim Mansuri, 55; both are residents of Gomtipur.

The racket was being run at the shop owned by Ibrahim and Wasim. The trio was making Aadhaar cards for those did not have any identity documents and were charging Rs 600 per card against the government norm of Rs 30.

“We have found about 100 Aadhaar cards and 36 election cards, some of them without photo or address,” said deputy commissioner of police, Zone 5, Himkar Singh. “We have also found data of over 1,000 persons for whom the accused have made Aadhaar cards. The data is being scrutinized and we will verify each holder as this is a matter of national security. We want to determine if some foreign national has managed to get an Aadhaar card from the accused.”

Singh said that the accused used the identity documents of others to make Aadhaar cards for their clients. “That is, biometric data belonged to the clients and the documents were of other people. Hence the data was invariably approved.” Singh said. “Very cleverly, they would scan only the rear of the election cards to avoid the pictures of the card-holders.”

Senior police sources said they have recovered two laptops, two thumb-impression plates, two web cameras, an eye scanner, a lamination machine, a scanner, and a WiFi router.

Deputy commissioner of police Himkar Singh said Ibrahim Mansuri was a government-authorized agent for processing Aadhaar cards. “However, most of the cards processed by him were rejected. So, according to norms, his authorization was cancelled,” Singh said. “But he had retained various gadgets necessary to process Aadhaar cards.”

Singh said that Jignesh Mangrolia, who was authorised to process Aadhaar cards, used his user ID and password to get access to the Aadhaar link and forged the cards. “This is a serious offence, equivalent to toying with the security of the nation,” Singh said.

Police officials said that as soon as they raided the premises by sending a decoy and caught the three accused, phones started ringing. “The calls were from some local politicians who asked us not to book the accused and to let them off,” a senior police official said. “However, we did not succumb to pressure and registered a case.”

