AADHAR: Union Cabinet of Ignorance!

January 31, 2013 Rediff.com
A Correspondent in New Delhi
 
Union Cabinet ministers were confused about AADHAR when they met on Thursday. A startling report.

Believe it or not, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's  Cabinet is unable to arrive at a consensus on the exact identity of AADHAAR -- the Unique Identification Number, UID.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram  thinks it is 'just a number'. He is correct. But Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar , Railway Minister Pawan Bansal and other ministers say: 'It is a card.'

The Union Cabinet met on Thursday and, reportedly, displayed a sensational lack of knowledge about its own ideas, plans and its execution. The question was, probably, worth Rs 5,500 crore/Rs 55 billion.

When the Cabinet met on the issue of harmonising the AADHAAR and National Population Register exercise and the need for a Resident Identity Card, an unbelievable situation arose.

The country's most powerful people, sitting on both sides of Dr Singh, at the high table of power, could not decide if AADHAAR is a card or merely a number and as a result the Cabinet could not approve the budget needed to take the issue further.

During the debate on the pros and cons of a resident ID card in the Cabinet, even Dr Singh was moved to ask, "Do we really need it?"

So much confusion arose among the mighty men that the Union Cabinet had to send the issue to a Group of Ministers to sort it out.

It was surprising for many present to see that a cerebral political entity and a trained lawyer like Chidambaram did not know that many of his colleagues have gone through the biometric exercise and received a card that they call Aadhaar.Chidambaram was, reportedly, taken by surprise when so many ministers told him that they had got 'the card.'

He insisted that AADHAAR is merely a number and not an ID card, says a source privy to the discussions.

At one point, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh butted in to say that there was no need of a 'card' to establish a resident of India's  identity because citizens can store the 'identify number' on their mobile telephones.

Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily  was provoked by Ramesh's remark. He told Ramesh that he (Moily) is unable to handle his own mobile phone so how could he expects villagers to use mobile phones to show their identification numbers. Ramesh meekly quoted the millions of mobile connections in use in India.

The wise men of India are confused because the brand name of the Unique Identification Number project is Aadhaar. At same time the government has initiated the creation of the National Population Register by collecting specific information from all residents in the country during the house listing and housing census phase of Census 2011 from April 2010 to September 2010, according to the NPR Web site.

NPR data is handdled by the Union home ministry; AADHHAR is handled by a specially created body under the Planning Commission. It is headed by Infosys  co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

The turf war between the NPR and AADHHAR is compounding confusion at the highest level.

Gopal Krishna, a member of the Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, who gave testimony before the parliamentary standing committee on finance that rejected the UID Bill, says, "It is not surprising that the Cabinet ministers are confused. The Aadhaar advertisement in Imphal has shown that it is a card, although it is not. The UID Authority of India has been misleading citizens."

"Chidambaram is right in this case," Gopal Krishna adds. "What appears as a card is deceptive because only the 12-digit number printed on the so-called card is of relevance. It is this 12-digit number which is part of the UID/Aadhaar central database that acts an identifier, and not as an identity card."

Data thefts of Aadhar loom large

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Rahul Ramakrishna

Civil society and RTI activists plan to move Supreme Court on the safety aspects of Aadhar data.

With over seven lakh Aadhaar enrolment applicants’ data missing, the question now being raised is what can happen if it lands in the wrong hands?

It is common knowledge that data are the new currency. Since the basics required for living demand proofs of identity, data now translates into a benefit of availing any government or private service.

The loophole with the Aadhaar card system, however, is the framework of its functioning. Many feel that there is no guarantee of data safety, considering the number of private players roped in to handle the enrolment for the Aadhaar card.

According to Viplava Simha Reddy, High Court advocate, “The government has done a blunder by employing private agencies for enrolment. These agencies have employees who do not owe allegiance to government and have all the freedom to misuse the data they are entrusted with. It is the Central government’s responsibility to prosecute those private agencies found guilty of data loss and mismanagement.”

He also adds that if any individual is unhappy with the state of functioning of enrolment agencies, he/she can file an RTI and claim their proofs of identity back.

“If this does not happen, one can move the Supreme Court and thereby bring attention to this issue effectively,” he says.

Registrar is an entity recognised by UIDAI for enrolling individuals for UID cards popularly known as Aadhaar cards. Registrars are those entities which are normally frequented by people for various purposes like banks, rural development departments, public sector undertakings (PSUs).

These registrars will also act as data warehouses for storing applicants’ details which will be further deposited to CIDR (Central ID Data Repository) for keeping all citizens’ data in one place.

Given the number of copies of proofs of identity that are hoarded by those handling the enrolment processes, cyber experts believe they have a huge profit value in the international black market.

“In Hyderabad itself, insurance and banks pay huge amounts for customer data bases. Normally, agents are hired and paid through bidding process for bank account information and credit card information. The bids start at `13 and end at `750. In my opinion, if the data of seven lakh applicants were put on the international market, anybody from the corporates to fundamentalist organisations will be willing to buy it,” says Srikanth Sahay, cyber security expert.

“ It is hard to understand how there has been no public agitation or action against the Aadhaar card or the recent data loss, considering the immense security threats it poses.There is a false sense of security among our citizens,” says Srikanth.

Data thefts

According to the National Crime Bureau Records of 2012, Andhra Pradesh accounted 349 out of the total 1,791 cases which is 19.5 per cent, followed by Kerala (277), Karnataka (151) and Rajasthan (122). These cases related to data loss/theft, computer hardware mismanagement.

Hyde­rabad registered 76 cases in 2012.

According to City Cyber Crime Wing ACP K. Chitti Babu, “ We have not so far received any complaint of data theft or identity theft related to Aadhaar card. However, we do come across many such cases every year.”

Civil society activists plan to file a PIL in the Supreme Court with the help of senior counsels. Raoji Brahamanand, RTI activist and former civil servant says, “ It is surprising that nobody from the judiciary circles have challenged the credibility of the Aadhaar card. The government is arm twisting its citizens into enrolling for the Aadhaar card but states that it is not mandatory. It is like poisoning the village well and selling mineral water bottles and proclaiming that people are buying it on their free-will.”

Umrah visas can now be obtained electronically

Saturday, May 11, 2013.  JEDDAH .

Umrah visas can now be obtained electronically thanks to the activation of an international e-network, announced Minister of Haj Dr. Bandar Hajjar here on Friday.

An intending Umrah performer fills an e-form through an approved agent. The application is linked with a package of services that has been purchased from the agent. The intending Umrah performer pays the cost of the package linked with the visa through a bank transfer to a recognized bank in the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Interior issues a computerized entry number for him. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues the visa after getting the Umrah performer’s data from the Interior Ministry.

The visa is received within 48 hours after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received the data. The agent is informed to visit the embassy to get the visa stamped.
After the Umrah performer arrives in the Kingdom, the Ministry of Haj starts monitoring to ensure that all services are provided to him or her. The Ministry of Haj ensures that Umrah performers leave the Kingdom on time.

The new e-network is linked with the ministries of interior and foreign affairs and the other authorities concerned.

Times Impact: More passport slots for Delhi

Manimugdha S. Sharma, TNN | May 11, 2013,

 

NEW DELHI: Reacting to TOI's 10-day campaign on the passport logjam, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Friday announced new measures. MEA joint secretary and chief passport officer Mukesh Pardesi  told this paper that online appointment slots at many centres across the country, including Mumbai, Jalandhar, Patna and Delhi, have been increased. In Delhi, the appointment cycle has been increased from the present three-seven days to 15-21 days, and nearly 15,000 appointment slots have been created additionally to accommodate the rush.

"If a user doesn't get a slot for that particular week, s/he will still have the chance of picking a slot over two weeks. We believe this will sort out the problem of booking an online appointment, which was becoming quite a challenge as your paper and most of your readers correctly pointed out. Whatever loose ends that remain will be tightened when we launch the prepaid booking facility," said Pardeshi, adding that all regional passport offices across the country have been told to organize passport melas on their own whenever they see a rush.

So, what about the touts who corner appointments? "We've realized that they use dynamic IP addresses to fool the system and book multiple appointments. It's very difficult to block that, which is why we are coming up with the prepaid facility," said Pardeshi. "A secured payment gateway has been created by SBI, and users can freeze a slot by paying through credit or debit card, internet banking and even bank challans. Also, we're tying up with 60,000 common service centres or CSCs across the country. They will charge Rs 100 per user for filling up and submitting an online application and even booking an online appointment. This facility will be used by those people who don't have the means or aren't too internet-friendly. This will go live by June-end, and effectively curb the tout menace, I believe."

But these aren't the only reforms that have been put on the fast track. Henceforth, the PASSPORT SEVA KENDRA (PSK) at Bhikaji Cama Place, RK Puram, will handle only Tatkal appointments. "We will handle 300 TATKAL AAPOINTMENTS  daily there. In fact, 20% of all appointments in Delhi will be under Tatkal. This is higher than the national average of 10%," Pardeshi said.

TOI had also highlighted the harassment faced by applicants at the hands of greedy policemen, who often demand bribes to give a verification report. "We have taken cognizance of TOI reports and are forming a crack team to monitor this process. Some state police forces have accepted the e-governance model well. Delhi has the best average at 14 days per verification, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 16 days, Haryana at 17 days, Chandigarh at 26 days and Kerala at 33 days. States in the northeast have the worst average at 150 days per police verification. This is also the reason why passports arrive late. Under the normal scheme of things, it takes nine days to process an application and dispatch a passport. If the police take 150 days to send a verification report, you can imagine how long it will take an applicant to receive his passport," Pardeshi said.

The ministry had announced a special productivity-linked incentive scheme for passport employees last year. It is coming into effect this year with retrospective effect. "Our officials, depending on the number of additional applications they process or clear, will be entitled to a performance bonus of up to Rs 1.20 lakh every year. We have determined three slabs of 15%, 25% and 35% for this. We are the first department in government of India to introduce this form of variable pay. We hope this will encourage our officials to be more than willing to raise the bar," the CPO said.

Also, passports with a new feature of "ghost images" containing vital information about the owners will be introduced in the capital shortly. The ministry hopes to issue 72-75 lakh passports this year.

This week, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bhopal, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Mumbai, Pune, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur are getting more appointment slots. Next week, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Trichy, Coimbatore and Dehradun will also get more slots. Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Ranchi and Raipur will get additional slots in the days to come, said Pardeshi.

Security feature in passports adds to delay

Tarini Puri, TNN | May 8, 2013

PUNE: More than 3,500 approved passport applications with the regional passport office in Pune are pending to be issued because of a new, peculiar problem. A security feature has been added to passports to make their duplication impossible, but printing machines are unable to print this new, improved version of the document.
The new feature has the ghost image of the passport holders on each leaf and their personal details in small font embedded in this image, a feature in passports of many other countries. These new-age passports, the first batch of which was rolled out in Chennai in mid-April, were introduced by the ministry of external affairs to end the menace of fake passports.

Other changes being made to the passport include shifting of personal details of the passport holder from the inner cover to page two and other particulars from the first page to page 35. The signature and seal of the passport issuing authority, which were earlier on page 1 will now be on the overleaf of the front cover. Double laminations are also a new feature. Existing passports will be replaced only on their expiry.

Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, regional passport officer Shakuntala Rane admitted that her office was facing problems in aligning the passport printing machines to the new feature. "We have printed a few passports with the added feature. But, it is a new style of printing and the machines are not tuned to it so far, which is delaying the process. We have a backlog of about 3,500 passports because of this, but we are working in double shifts to hasten the delivery," she said.

While officials are busy tackling this new problem, grievances against the existing system including those against agents, delays in police verifications and ambiguity of procedures at the Passport Seva Kendra in Mundhwa continued to pour in. Applicants said it had been since promises had been made to iron out their woes, but nothing had changed so far.

A harried applicant, Mehjabeen Memon, said her application was rejected by officials at Mundhwa on Tuesday as she did not have a birth certificate but had furnished an affidavit for the same. Memon had then rushed to the RPO and sought her intervention. "Affidavit is accepted as proof of age for people born before 1989. Why did officials at Mundhwa make me run around for no reason," she said. Memon's application was later accepted after she got the signature of RPO Shakuntala Rane on it.

Applicants also complained about the delay in police verification. Senior police officials said they were still in the process of digitizing applications, after which they would be able to meet the monthly targets.

Sandeep Khardekar, co-convener of Pune passport grievances forum, said they are now thinking of filing a public interest litigation on the passport issue. "None of the promises made at our meeting with senior ministry officials have been met. Most of their promises are still only on paper, including pre - payment for appointments and collection centres in districts. We continue to get the same kind of complaints even now. The blame game between police and RPO officials is still on. Despite top most ministry officials intervening, it is a sorry state of affairs in Pune. We are working on filing a PIL on the matter," he said.

While Rane has assured to look into the issue of officials misguiding applicants at the seva kendra in Mundhwa, she denied allegations of any nexus with "agents". Rane also pointed out that the number of people coming to her for appointments has reduced since the number of online application slots were increased from 775 to 1,100. 

'Aadhaar' is a Number, Not an ID Card!

New Delhi: Seeking to set at rest controversy over Aadhaar, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said UID is a number and not an identity card.

"The Aadhaar is actually a number, linked to that number is a biometric record which is centrally stored. The (Aadhaar) number comes in a form of card. But that card is not an identity card," Ahluwalia said when asked about the raging controversy over the issue.

Some Cabinet Ministers have reportedly raised the issue pertaining to Aadhaar that whether it is a number or an identity card. The government has recently constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the issue.

Elaborating his point of view, Mr Ahluwalia said, "I can tear up the card. As long as I have the number, I don't need the card. There is no such thing as UIDAI (Aadhaar) card. You need it only because you want to remember your number. If you stick your number in the wallet. That is fine."

As regards the GoM, he said, "There are concerns that if you issue a card which is mandatory, it will become basis for harassment so the GoM has been constituted to go into that issue only in relation to the (NMIC) card."

There is a separate proposal which is national multipurpose identity card (NMIC) which is being run by the Ministry of Home Affairs, he said adding that when the law was amended by the NDA government, this card (NMIC) was made mandatory.

The government has mandated that Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to enrol and collect biometrics details of 60 crore population of the country. The biometric details of rest of the 61 crore population would be collected under National Population Register project.

PTI

Pass Bill to make Aadhaar valid:

Mysore, April 26, 2013:(DH)

Seeking a bill to ensure constitutional validity for Aadhaar cards, K C Belliappa, former Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, said that Aadhaar can be a boon for the poor.

“Aadhaar has to be made more unique. It has the capacity to prevent government funds from being siphoned off, while ensuring that the benefits reach the needy,” he said.

He was delivering the inaugural address at a one day national seminar on ‘Managerial Challenges in Implementing Aadhaar Program in India’, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in the city.

He was skeptical in his talk, stating that Aadhaar card and the bio-metric information associated with the card, can be misused to spy on individuals. He described Aadhaar as ‘an internal passport to avail the benefits of the government.’

S N Prasad, Professor of Physics, Regional Institute of Engineering, Mysore said that Aadhaar was affected by technical challenges and social problems of the country.

“The Home ministry, despite the progress of Aadhaar registration and Direct Cash Transfer in the country, has remained distant from the project. This is not a good sign,” he said.
Taking a dig at the poor design of cards, meant to be unique for a citizen, he said that Aadhaar cards were worse off than conventional cards. “Any form of identity card, needs to be of better quality than the Aadhaar cards which were being used currently,” he said.
He also highlighted the delays in Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issuing cards to people who had registered under the programme.

Dharani Devi Malagatti, Deputy Director, Karnataka Police Academy said that there was a ‘credibility gap’ in governance. People have been cynical and skeptical of government initiatives. This has affected Aadhaar, she said.

Indian Embassy outsources passport service to new company.

Washington, Apr 27, 2013, (PTI) :

The Indian Embassy in the US today announced to outsource its passport related services to a new company for all its diplomatic missions in the country.

BLS International will replace the existing VFS global Ltd and start receiving applications for Indian passport related services from May 7, according to a public announcement by the Indian Embassy here.

Besides the Indian Embassy in Washington, passport related services are handled by the five other Indian Consulates in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston.

"The Services of the current service provider VFS Global Ltd will be terminated w.e.f. May 7, 2013 at all Embassy/Consulate locations in USA. VFS Global Ltd will continue to receive passport applications in person until May 6 and by mail until May 3, 2013," the Embassy statement said.

Headquartered in New Delhi, BLS International specialises in outsourcing of visas, passports and attestation applications in India as well as abroad.

According to the passport outsourcing tender issued by the Indian Embassy on March 1, the outsourcing agency would be responsible for collection of passports, supporting documents, and prescribed application fees from the applicants.

In 2012, the Indian Embassy in Washington and the five Consulates had handled 78,836 passport related applications.

The Indian Consulate in New York had received the maximum number of 25,430 passport related applications, followed by San Francisco (20,186), Houston (12,711), Washington (9,620) and Chicago (9,435).

Saudi sponsors to pay for deporting illegal workers

Saudi Arabia will make sponsors and employers of foreigners working illegally in the country pay the cost of deporting them, under new rules approved by the cabinet, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday.

The world's top oil exporter is cracking down on illegal expatriate workers in an effort to move more Saudi citizens into private sector jobs. Tens of thousands of people have been deported in recent months as government inspectors descended on businesses that have long bent the rules to hire foreigners, who are often paid less than Saudi nationals.

Last week Labour Minister Adel al-Fakieh said the kingdom would impose tough penalties, including jail sentences and fines, on owners of small businesses which harboured illegal workers.

The new cabinet ruling will end the government's responsibility for paying deportation costs, reported the Saudi Gazette, a major newspaper, saying it had seen an advance copy of the ruling.

Expatriates who violate labour laws, or overstay haj and umrah pilgrimage visas, will be deported and then banned from returning to Saudi Arabia, it added.

Officials in Yemen and the Indian state of Kerala, from which many of the roughly 9 million foreigners in the kingdom come, have expressed concern about the impact of deportations. Many other expatriates come from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Arab countries.

Under Saudi law, all expatriate workers must be sponsored by a Saudi company or individual. Many workers then leave that employer to look for a better job elsewhere, or set up their own businesses. Some sponsors connive in violating the rules, charging expatriates whom they do not employ money to renew their visas.

The newspaper said sponsors and haj and umrah travel companies which failed to report missing workers or pilgrims would bear deportation expenses.

Pilgrims who are reported missing would have to pay their own airfares home. For workers reported missing, deportation costs would be paid by the company for which they were working or, if the workers had set up their own business, they would pay costs themselves.

Companies or individuals registering "cover-up" businesses, which are illegally owned by foreigners while ostensibly being the property of a Saudi sponsor, would be banned for five years from recruiting foreign workers.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/saudi-sponsors-to-pay-for-deporting-illegal-workers/1/267054.html

Passport seekers face problems at Ghaziabad

IANS  |  Ghaziabad  April 22, 2013  

Passport seekers from western Uttar Pradesh Monday complained of poor service at an application processing centre managed here by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). 

People from across 13 districts of western Uttar Pradesh are forced to remain in queues for seven to eight hours to get their applications processed as there is an inadequate number of working counters, it has been alleged. 

They also complained of lack of sitting arrangements even for the aged passport seekers and adequate arrangement of water at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) situated at Pacific Business Park in Sahibabad area here.

Nikhil Gautam from TCS claimed that "Beyond the entrance of our office, we cannot provide facilities to the visitors while at A level counters just at the entrance, we try to clear the queue at the earliest hence there is no need for the sitting facilities". 

Additional Regional Passport Officer Veena Sharma refused to speak.

On the other hand, passport seekers made a slew of complaints against the service provider and poor infrastructure at the centre.

 

"We reached at 9 a.m. and it took 8 hours to process our application at three counters. During these eight hours my 65-year brother Niyamat Ali had to wait outside without any facilities for visitors," said Liyaquat Ali from Saharanpur. 

 

Old and young people are forced to sit on the floor without any water facility, Ali said. 

"We have 29 counters at A level, eight counters at B level and six counters at C level to deal with about 500 to 600 applicants a day. We do admit there is a bottleneck at C level so the applicants are suffering slackness in the process," Gautam of TCS admitted.

Contradicting Gautam's claim Rajiv of Aligarh, who was hearing the conversation, claimed that Gautam was hiding facts.

He alleged that at "B level there are only four counters operational and at C level only three counters are operational".

The service provider agency process the application at A level and the rest is dealt by government officials directly, claimed a source inside the office and the bottleneck is there.

"It was good when the office was at CGO Complex in Ghaziabad where regional passport officer was readily available but here at this corner no one is to look at the applicants problem," said Hamid Ali of Bulandshahr.

India Post, Tata Consultancy Services to sign Rs 1,400 cr IT deal on Monday

IT major Tata Consultancy Services has bagged the Rs 1,400-crore project of India Post for computerising counter operations and the two parties will sign a pact on Monday, a top government official has said.The project is divided into two parts --two years for implementation and five years of maintenance.

"We will sign agreement with TCS on Monday for computerising counter operations under core system integration of India Post. Around Rs 1,400 crore has been earmarked for the project," Department of Post Secretary P Gopinath said.

The government has approved Rs 4,909 crore for phase II of modernisation of post offices under which the department is gearing up for providing real time core banking services as well.

The Indian IT companies, which earn major part of their revenues from foreign markets especially the US and Europe, are betting big on the domestic government projects.

TCS had also bagged the mission mode e-governance project and Passport Seva Project from the MEA in October, 2008.

Infosys has bagged a 700-crore project that would help India Post transform its banking and insurance operations cross 1,50,000 post offices in the country.

The Department of Post has started deploying modern technology solution to develop core banking capability across post offices. As part of modernisation, it has set a deadline of March 31 to computerise all department post offices.

The IT modernisation project approved the Cabinet was divided in three parts: Pilot, Phase I and Phase II.

In phase 1, DoP has to roll out modern IT solution in six circles namely, Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

The project included computerisation of all post offices, core banking solutions including installation of 1000 ATMs, mail tracking, customer service call center and introducing eCommerce solution, handheld devices for post masters for update on services like mails, money order etc.

Some activities like installation of ATMs under Phase 1 are yet to be completed by the department.

 

Under phase II of the IT project, DoP has plans to roll out modern IT solution in rest of the country.

 

Source : http://www.financialexpress.com

Ghost images to curb fake passport menace

TH, BANGALORE, April 13, 2013

Your passport will soon sport additional security features," K.J. Srinivasa, Regional Passport Officer, Bangalore, told The Hindu the new-look passport, which will be printed from April 15, is aimed at preventing criminals from printing fakes.

The new variant of the passport, which will be issued by all Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) in the country, will have the personal particulars of the passport holder, hitherto printed on the front inner cover page, shifted to page 1 of the document. A ‘ghost’ image of the passport holder will be imprinted on the page bearing the personal particulars, below the passport number.

The sign and seal of the Regional Passport Officer, hitherto appearing on page 1, will be shifted to the front inner cover.

The family details of the passport holder — names of father, mother and spouse — and address, which hitherto appeared on the back inner cover, will be shifted to the penultimate page of the passport document — page 35 in of 36-page passport booklet.

Apart from stymieing criminals from printing fake passports, the changes will also help prevent smudging of the document because of inkjet printers. Moreover, in the old passport, reproduction of the passport holder’s photograph was not of a very good quality.

Dr. Srinivasa however clarified that existing passports will be valid till their expiry date.

Printing is on

He said the printing of the new passport was already on in different RPOs such as Delhi, Chandigarh and Patna with the new security features. “We were waiting for the old stock to be exhausted, which happened today (Friday). We will start printing from Monday,”he said. 

Scam: Passport officer 'Moulvi' held in Karnataka

DC | 08.03.2013 I Bengaluru: Raising the spectre of a massive infiltration of terrorists into the IT capital and the country, 64 passports have been issued by Bengaluru's Regional Passport Office to people who have been checked and verified on all relevant criteria. Except, Deccan Chronicle has now learnt, the passport holders of these documents have not gone through the exacting verification process that is required by law, and that their names, fingerprints and eye scans were conducted by a clever scamster, who, operating his own biometric system, sold the genuine passports for a paltry 5 lakh. 

Deccan Chronicle has also been told by its sources that the man conducting the biometric testing and issuing passports which are authentic in every way is an employee of the Regional Passport Office in the city.

Security officials have been left red-faced at the scale of the scam, which implicates three or more people in the Regional Passport Office in the Karnataka capital, and puts a huge question mark over the manner in which security parameters have been so spectacularly breached. 

As Deccan Chronicle investigates the passport scam which has rattled the Mini­stry of External Affairs and city police, a Chikkballapur native, Khaleelullah Khan aka ‘Maulvi’ has emerged as the kingpin along with two associates, Chand and Muja­hid. All three have been arre­sted by the City Crime Branch and are being questioned by the Intelligence Bureau. 

Anchor in constant touch with kingpin

What started out as a sting operation by the private television channel to expose some people in Chikkaballapur who were allegedly issuing fake passports turned out to be a much bigger racket involving issuing original passports for a princely sum.

At the end of the operation, the entire team was caught in a cobweb, with their own colleague getting linked with the racketeers and suggesting that the TV anchor’s junior colleagues be murdered as a last measure to stop the sting operation from being aired.

Now, the city police, who are investigating the case, are in the process of issuing notice to the television anchor, who is a senior news producer of the news channel, to appear before the investigation officer for questioning.

The call records of the main accused suggested that he was constantly in touch with the TV anchor ‘negotiating’ to stop telecast of the sting operation.

Sources said the sting operation started six months ago when the channel got information about fake passports. The channel put two young reporters on the job and it took almost a month to establish contact with the prime accused in Chikkaballapur, who is a maulvi.

One of the reporters sought a passport saying that he had two police cases pending against him. All he had to do was shell out around `1.5 lakh after handing over a passport size photograph and his address details. The biometric thumb impressions were recorded in the house at Chikkaballapur.

At this point, the reporters realised that the details would be sent to the Regional Passport Office in Bengaluru and they will be receiving original passports from the office, without even submitting records and police verification. The two also came to know that at least three people in the Passport Office were involved in the racket.

The entire sting operation was known to only three senior people in the office. After the two reporters got the passport, the TV anchor learnt about the sting. First, he tried to convince his colleagues that it would affect the Passport Officer, who was known to him quite well. When they said that the officer, Dr K.J. Srinivasa, had no role in the racket, he backed down, but kept track of the developments.

The issue took a turn when the channel decided to go ahead and air the sting operation. JCP (Crime) Mr Pronab Mohanthy, who watched the video, immediately got the racketeers arrested.

While going through the kingpin’s call details, police came across a number which figured frequently in the maulvi’s call list. The kingpin told police that he had not met the caller and that the caller had introduced himself as ‘Mr Rakesh’ who had promised to stop telecast of the story. After realising that the channel would go ahead with the telecast, ‘Mr Rakesh’ suggested murder of the two reporters so that others do not get the footage of the sting operation.

The mobile phone number was traced to a fake address in Gulbarga and later to  the TV anchor.

Maulvi arrested on February 27

Sources privy to the developments revealed to Deccan Chronicle that a maulvi, from Chikkaballapur is the mastermind behind passport scam.

The maulvi was arrested on February 27 from his Chikkaballapur house after tracking the call records of journalists of a leading Kannada news channel, who had a filed a complaint on receiving threatening calls after they had carried out a sting operation to expose the passport scam.

The police were baffled after they stumbled on a laptop and a biometric reading device in the house until the information obtained from the laptop revealed that the maulvi had so far issued 64 ‘genuine passports’ and that the last one was that of the journalist who had carried out the sting operation.

“The maulvi, operating from his house, had three persons operating at the Passport Seva Kendra on Marathahalli Road working for him. He had biometric reading devices at his house and would provide preliminary data like names, photographs, fingerprint details to them. The three would then process the information by feeding them into the system. Subsequently, the passport would be processed without any verification and delivered to their clients,’’ sources said.

However, it is not yet clear whether the three work for TCS, MEA or are mere touts as police refused to divulge further details.

Sources said that police have information on all the 63 persons who have obtained passports through maulvi. “We are looking at the details of 63 persons. Very soon we will share further information,’’ sources said.

He tried to stall broadcast

It all started a few months ago, when the TV anchor got Regional Passport Officer Dr K.J. Srinivasa to his channel’s office and introduced him as his cousin. When he came to know about the sting operation, the TV anchor contacted the channel head and pleaded with him to stop the telecast saying that his cousin would get into trouble.

However, he was assured that Mr Srinivasa was in no way involved in the racket and that some junior officials were involved. But the TV anchor wanted the operation to be put off till Dr Srinivasa went to the US on his next assignment.

Meanwhile, he called up the kingpin, Maulvi, under the name of ‘Mr Rakesh’ offering to stall the telecast in return for payment. 

After Maulvi’s arrest last week, police tracked his calls. Police realised that the SIM card was purchased on a fake address in Gulbarga. When they tried to track the phone, it pointed to the TV channel’s office. The needle of suspicion pointed towards the TV anchor, who had earlier tried to stall telecast of the story. The anchor’s number and that of ‘Mr Rakesh’ were found to be at the same place. 

MEA wants thorough probe into the scam

The passport scam in Karnataka has turned out to be a major security threat for the country with the Ministry of External Affairs seeking a detailed investigation into the case by the City police.

The Central Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested the three accused —  Khaleelullah Khan alias Maulvi, Chand and Mujahid and others, who were touts at the Passport Seva Kendra at Devarabisanahalli, Marathahalli Outer Ring Road in HAL police station limits and were allegedly running the racket of facilitating genuine passports on fake documents with alleged official collusion. “To issue a genuine passport on fake documents is much more dangerous than issuing fake passports. We need to dig deep into the case,” said an official source.  

The CCB, on March 2, had lodged a criminal complaint at the HAL police station based on which they registered an FIR against Maulvi, Chand and Mujahid under Sections 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc),  468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) of the IPC and Section 12 b (knowingly furnishing any false information or suppressing any material information) of the Indian Passport Act. 

The three had allegedly forged documents of some educational institutions for getting passports. The HAL police, on March 3, had transferred the case to the CCB.

 MOHAMMED CHAND SHAIKH