The Kandivali police in Mumbai have busted a syndicate that issued Aadhaar cards from banks ranging in price from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 without any government documentation. Surprisingly, the investigations revealed that Muslims were given Aadhaar cards with Hindu names. In this case, one suspect was arrested from the Poisar locality.
This comes after a complaint was filed at the Kandivali police station stating that Aadhaar cards were being issued without proper documentation at the Bank of Baroda branch in Kandivali. Mahendra Mangude of Kandivali was creating Aadhaar cards for roughly two to five thousand rupees without any verification.
Kandivali police station sub-inspector Prakash Ghadge deployed a Muslim to pose as a customer and track down Mahendra. After extracting two thousand rupees from him, Mahendra brought him to the Bank of Baroda branch. Mohammad Junaid, the Muslim, was then enrolled for an Aadhaar card in the name of Ram Gupta without being asked any questions, and a letter was also issued to that effect.
The police immediately rushed in, caught Mahendra, and confiscated phoney documents and political party rubber stamps from him. During the investigation, he admitted to providing Aadhaar to multiple others in this manner.
“The investigation discovered that the accused Mahendra was producing bogus Aadhaar cards at the Bank of Baroda branch in Kandivali, and a probe is ongoing to find out whether anybody else is connected to the fraud,” said Sadashiv Sawant, Senior Police Inspector, Kandivali.
The age of the accused is 31 years. Police have informed that the accused is a resident of Akurli Road in Kandivali East. The apprehended suspect is currently being rigorously grilled by police. The authorities are looking into how many persons he has issued Hindu Aadhaar cards to.
