CCS registered a case of case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and impersonation. (Representational Image) CCS registered a case of case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and impersonation. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad Police on Friday arrested three people for stealing Aadhaar data of 300 people and using it to steal senior citizens’ pension to the tune of Rs 40 lakh since May 2015. A team from Central Crime Station (CCS) and City Task Force East Zone busted the racket on a complaint by Chavan Dasharath.

Dasharath (38) lodged a complaint on October 26 saying that his Aadhaar number was being misused by some people as he was receiving messages from Aasara Pension Health Scheme about deposit and withdrawal of money. Dasharath inquired with Aasara and found that someone named Mohammed Aziz was using his Aadhaar number to fraudulently claim pension of other people. The complainant also found that Aziz and his associates had used his Aadhaar number to open an SBI account at Edi Bazaar where the pension was deposited by government, which they used to withdraw.

CCS registered a case of case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and impersonation. “Mohammed Abdul Khader Nakshbandi Aziz, Shaik Shabbir Hussain, and Mohammd Aslam used downloaded Aadhaar numbers and opened nearly 300 bank accounts using fictitious addresses. They posed themselves as the authorised persons to process the Aasara Pension Health Scheme to the senior citizens at the Bandlaguda Tahsildar office of Hyderabad and collected huge amounts from the government on the pretext of sanctioning of pension to Aasara pensioners. They cheated the government to the tune of Rs 40 lakh. All three have been arrested,’’ ACP Sanjeev Rao said.

Aziz was working as an executive at SBI’s Customer Service Point, while Hussain used to work as a computer operator at an e-Seva centre. Both used their experience to collect Aadhaar card data while Aslam, who is an assistant at Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited at Nalgonda, helped them by creating fictitious addresses and opening bank accounts. The police have seized biometric machines, printers and laptops.

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