Adilabad police bust fake certificate gang, arrest five
ADILABAD: Police have busted a gang allegedly involved in creating fake birth, death and marriage certificates, Aadhaar-related documents, voter identity cards and PAN cards in Adilabad district, and arrested five people.
A case has been registered against six accused at Ichoda police station, while one accused is on the run, Adilabad superintendent of police (SP) Akhil Mahajan said at a press conference at the district police headquarters on Monday.
Police seized computers, laptops, printers, hard drives, mobile phones, a fingerprint scanner, cameras and other electronic equipment. Fake rubber stamps, voter identity cards, birth certificates and other documents were also recovered.
Fake panchayat records lead police to alleged network
The investigation began after Gundala gram panchayat secretary Mohammed Luqman lodged a complaint with Ichoda police.
Police said the accused allegedly made a fake rubber stamp in the name of the Gundala gram panchayat secretary and forged his signature. Using computers, they allegedly created birth, death and marriage certificates, house tax certificates and other gram panchayat documents.
Investigators found that the fake documents were subsequently used to create Aadhaar-related documents, voter identity cards and PAN cards.
Police said the accused allegedly enabled ineligible people to obtain benefits under government schemes using the forged documents, thereby cheating the Telangana government.
Computers, fingerprint scanner among devices seized
During questioning, the main accused allegedly disclosed the role of the other accused. Police subsequently seized laptops, computer central processing units, monitors, printers, hard drives and mobile phones from them.
A Suprema RealScan-G10 fingerprint scanner, CMI Tech camera, Logitech web camera and other electronic devices were also seized.
Mahajan said the digital devices would be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory to retrieve digital evidence.
Police are investigating how many fake documents the accused allegedly created, whose names were used, who used the documents and whether more people were involved in the conspiracy.
Five arrested, one accused remains on the run
The arrested accused were identified as Shaikh Haroon, 26, son of Abdul Ghani, of Keshapatnam village in Ichoda mandal; Abdul Shafiq, 31, son of Abdul Rahim, of Islampura Colony in Ichoda; Shaikh Dilshad Ahmed, 19, son of Shaikh Siraj Ahmed, also of Islampura Colony; Abdul Rahman Khan, 20, son of Abdul Mohid Khan, of Hanuman Colony in Ichoda; and Syed Naushad, 26, son of Dastagir, of Islampur village in Ichoda mandal.
Police identified the accused on the run as Abrar Ali, son of Rafiq.
The accused have been booked under Sections 318(4), 338, 340 and 341(2), read with Section 3(5), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita; Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act; and Section 35 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016. Further investigation is under way, Mahajan said.
Utnoor assistant superintendent of police Ruthvik Sai Kotte, Ichoda station house officer and inspector K Naresh Kumar, Central Crime Station inspector Chandrasekhar and other police personnel attended the press conference.
