Cops probe into Aadhaar breach plaint

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, January 30

The Jind police have formed team of the economic cell to investigate breach into the biometric account of an Aadhaar operator of the SBI in the Uchana branch of Jind district.

Aadhaar operator Vikram Sheokand lodged a complaint that unidentified person(s) had logged into his Aadhaar account at multiple stations and withdrawn Rs1,000 and Rs7,500 on two occasions.

Jind SSP Ashwin Shenvi said a case had been registered. Narwana DSP Kulwant Singh said the economic cell would be assisted by the CIA branch and the Uchana police. “The team started the probe today,” he said.

Asked about the allegation that the unidentified accused had hacked into the UIDAI software and logged into the complainant’s account to generate fake Aadhaar cards, the DSP said these charges would be probed during the investigation.

Complainant Vikram said he had lodged several complaints to the police, the UIDAI and the higher authorities about breach of his biometric details by unscrupulous person(s) after the first incident of breach of his bank account on November 14, when Rs1,000 was withdrawn from his bank account, but the Jind police registered a case yesterday.

Vikram said Rs7,500 was withdrawn from his bank account on November 20. “I got a complaint lodged with the UIDAI on November 21 and visited the UIDAI regional office in Chandigarh on November 22 to report the breach and fraud,” he said.

He said he was in for another shock when he received an error report for November 2018 from the UIDAI on December 28. “I came to know that I was blacklisted for multiple station ID use in the Aadhaar system on November 14. The UIDAI’s mail about the error report mentioned that I had committed 646 errors, which drew a penalty of Rs33,37,825,” he said.

He said he locked his biometric account and lodged a complaint with the Uchana police on November 23. He alleged the accused person(s) used his ID generated by the SBI for Aadhaar enrolment and updation for the UIDAI and biometrics for logging into the UIDAI system to generate fake Aadhaar cards.

As per the UIDAI error report mail, he was fined for 333 errors in DOE 1 category, which indicated that Aadhaar cards were generated without the valid documents.

THE CASE FILE

• After breach, Rs 1,000 withdrawn from bank account on Nov 14
• In second case, Rs 7,500 withdrawn from the account on November 20
• Complainant gets error report for November from UIDAI on Dec 28
• Blacklisted for multiple station ID use in Aadhaar system on Nov 14
• Report says he committed 646 errors, drawing penalty of Rs 33,37,825
• The complainant says accused used his ID to generate fake Aadhaar cards