Less than a week after Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar nationals were arrested for fraudulently obtaining Indian Passports, another major racket dealing with fake identity documents was busted by the Cyberabad Police.
The Special Operations Team (SOT) of Cyberabad Police found that about 400 PAN and Voter ID cards were obtained illegally by bribing the government officials and also by taking advantages of loopholes in the system.
Using these documents, the accused M. Jagan Mohan Reddy acquired 167 credit cards from various banks and gained money to the tune of Rs. 63 lakh — all this in the last couple of months. The police also arrested 13 of his accomplices who helped the accused get ID and credit cards on fictitious names.
On Tuesday, Cyberabad Commissioner C.V. Anand explained the modus operandi of the accused. The accused, Jagan Mohan Reddy, studied up to class 10. He initially worked as security guard and then as a field verification officer for banking institutions. Having gathered knowledge about processing and issuing of credit cards, he hatched a plan to make a fast buck.
As per the plan, he started collecting a number of PAN, Voter ID cards and IT returns on random names and addresses since these documents were basic requisites for obtaining credit cards.
For PAN cards, the accused allegedly bribed the official and lawyer in the sub-ordinate courts to get address proof certificates and an affidavit which was submitted along with application to UTI. The accused then influenced the delivery boys of Blue Dart to hand over all the PAN cards to him directly.
To procure Voter ID cards, the accused used agents and also GHMC outsourcing employees by paying them bribes.
Finally, all these documents were used to apply credit cards from HDFC, SBI, American Express and IndusInd banks, which he received by bribing sales executives and field verification officers. The accused also converted his house into a mini-telephone exchange by installing 37 landline connections and using 155 SIM cards for aiding phone verifications. Calling this incident as a “threat to national security”, Cyberabad Commissioner Mr. Anand said that there is every chance that terrorists might take advantage of the system and indulge in something similar.
Focus on refugees
Alarmed by the spurt in cases related to fake identification documents in the recent past, Mr. Anand informed that they will focus on refugees and illegal immigrants to check if they were trying to procure documents using illegal methods. Cyberabad Police officials along with NGOs concerned will start verifying the status of 1,700-odd Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, staying under Cyberabad police limits.
