Premraj Hutagi, 29, working as a Railway gateman in Tumakuru, was in for a shock on Saturday, on his birthday, as he was questioned in a terror-related bomb blast case.
The Mangaluru City Police found an Aadhaar card with his name and his Hubballi residential address on the accused, following which the Hubballi Police reached his home on Saturday night.
His family was in for a rude shock as the police came knocking on their doors, checking for their son, and asking if he was involved in a bomb blast.
His parents, Marutirao Hutagi and Renuka Hutagi, vouched for their son, and called him up to prove he was not in Mangaluru, but in Tumakuru.
“A sub-inspector called me at around 8 p.m. asking about my whereabouts and asked for my photograph, which I sent. I work as a Railway gateman and was working the night shift from 7 p.m. on Saturday to 7 a.m. on Sunday, which I asked the police to check themselves. The police turned up to verify and only then cleared me,” he said, speaking to presspersons in Tumakuru on Sunday.
Soon, Director-General & Inspector-General of Police Praveen Sood tweeted, “Premraj is a victim of identity theft. It’s confirmed. He has nothing to do with this incident”, clearing him of any wrongdoing.
Mr. Premraj Hutagi told media persons that he had lost his Aadhaar card twice in the last one year, once in Hubballi and the second time on a bus.
“I had not registered a complaint, but had applied and downloaded new copies. I never imagined that my Aadhaar card could be misused like this, that too for a terror attack,” he said.
“I told him to lodge a complaint when he lost his card, but he never did. We are sad that this happened on his birthday,” Ms. Renuka Hutagi said.
