Mumbai: Two arrested for using forged documents to obtain Aadhaar, PAN cards

The police sent a decoy customer to Lokhande, who told the latter that he needed an Aadhaar card but has no documents. Lokhande allegedly told the decoy customer that he can provide an Aadhaar card for Rs 4,000 but first he have to make a PAN card.

After obtaining a PAN card on forged documents, Lokhande took the decoy to an Aadhaar enrollment centre in Borivali (west) on September 13 and after completing the procedure, the two came out with a receipt for Aadhaar card, police said. Soon after Lokhande allegedly accepted money from the decoy, the police team caught him.

His aide, Ramchandra Dhuri, 57, who works in a Common Service Centre (CSC), a facility where government e-services are delivered to rural and remote locations, was nabbed on the same day for allegedly helping Lokhande in forgery. “We have seized seven PAN cards, the Aadhaar card receipt with the photo of the decoy, the cash accepted by the accused, laptop used for forgery and a pen drive used to commit the crime,” said Senior Inspector Ninad Sawant.

The officer said Dhuri worked in the CSC for over two years and a probe is underway to find out if he has helped forge more documents.