Aurangabad: City police have booked a Waluj-based Aadhaar enrolment officer on charges of cheating and forgery. It became clear that he illegally appointed subordinates for carrying out the work on his behalf, using a rubber stamp of his thumb.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is coming to terms with the fact that the man prepared a rubber stamp of his thumb impression and shared it with staff he appointed in flagrant violation of norms. The rubber stamp of his thumb could be used for accessing Aadhaar software that enables registration of new people and editing existing Aadhaar data.

UIDAI deputy director Nivedita Golatkar rushed to Aurangabad from Mumbai and lodged a police complaint, stating that the government had been cheated and a threat had been posed to UIDAI data.

The enrolment officer and other suspects have been booked under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.

A probe by the UIDAI application analyst has found that representatives of the enrolment officer have been rampantly collecting money from people for registration of new Aadhhar numbers and making corrections in existing Aadhaar cards.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Waluj inspector Dnyaneshwar Sable told TOI, “The gross breach came to light on April 16, when two application analysts reached the city and inspected Arihant Xerox at Maharana Pratap Chowk of Bajajnagar, only to find that the person carrying out the Aadhaar work had neither a valid license nor was authorised to do so.”

The officer said analysts were stunned that unauthorised persons were accessing confidential Aadhaar data through the special software connected with the server.

Analysts recovered the rubber stamp of the thumb impression of enrolment officer Mangesh Sitaram Bhalerao, who allegedly prepared it and gave it to his representatives. As per the records, this man hails from Wahegaon of Gangapur tehsil in the district.

Inspector Sable said, “Only an authorised person can access UIDAI software, that too by punching his thumb impression in the machine. This is a serious lapse.”

