Pakistanis obtained Aadhaar cards with govt doctor’s help
Bengaluru: Mohammad Shihab (30), a native of Palakkad, Kerala, had approached Dr C S Nagalakshmamma, the chief medical officer (CMO) at Jayanagar General Hospital, with a request to attest the copies of his house rent agreement. A temporary resident must get a certificate of residence attested by either a gazetted officer or an elected representative to get Aadhaar. Image for representation
The three Pakistanis caught living illegally in Bengaluru had procured Aadhaar cards with the help of a woman doctor at a government hospital in Jayanagar four months ago. The doctor has since been arrested.
Mohammad Shihab (30), a native of Palakkad, Kerala, had approached Dr C S Nagalakshmamma, the chief medical officer (CMO) at Jayanagar General Hospital, with a request to attest the copies of his house rent agreement. A temporary resident must get a certificate of residence attested by either a gazetted officer or an elected representative to get Aadhaar.
The doctor, who is a gazetted officer with powers to attest documents or endorse certificates of residence, obliged him without carrying out any verification.
With the attested documents, Shihab, his Pakistani wife, Sameera Abdul Rehman (25), and her cousins, Kiran Ghulam Ali (26) and Kashif Shamsuddin (30), approached the Aadhaar enrolment centre at Kadirenahalli and furnished other false details to get Aadhaar cards, said a source in the Central Crime Branch (CCB) which is investigating the case.
The CCB wrote to the head office of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency responsible for issuing Aadhaar cards, seeking details of all the documents furnished by the suspects.
Ashok Lenin, Deputy Director, UIDAI regional office, Bengaluru, submitted the details and also filed a complaint at the Banashankari police station. Accordingly, police registered a fresh case of cheating and forgery under sections 32 and 34 of the Aadhaar Act against the four suspects, and also implicated Nagalakshmamma.
The source said Nagalakshmamma had confessed to attesting the certificate of residence, but said she was unaware of the background of the suspects. In her statement to the police, the doctor said she did the attestation as part of her duty in a goodwill gesture without receiving any monetary benefits.
Meanwhile, the CCB has not found any evidence to link the four suspects to any kind of espionage, anti-national or terrorist activity.
