In a major achievement in the fight against identity fraud, police in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal have exposed two fictitious Aadhaar card rackets in independent operations carried out within the last two months. These consecutive raids resulted in four arrests and the confiscation of advanced digital devices, unmasking a highly organised forgery ring running close to India’s sensitive border with Bangladesh.
The latest operation was carried out on July 8 in Bharatpur police station jurisdiction, when a house in Govindpur village under Alugram Panchayat was raided by the officials. On a tip-off obtained through intelligence sources, police raided a hidden place that was converted into a fully-fledged imitation Aadhaar card-making facility. Two people, Inamul Sheikh and Niyat Sheikh, were arrested on the spot.
As per police officials, the accused had established a well-equipped laboratory with laptops, printers, scanners, and biometric devices to prepare fake Aadhaar cards. Officials confiscated two laptops, two printers, one scanner, a lamination machine, an ID scanner, three fingerprint scanners, and a webcam during the raid. Furthermore, cops seized thirteen bogus Aadhaar cards, more than a hundred passport photos, Rs. 24,900 in cash, and even a fake stamp of a Panchayat Pradhan. A thumb impression scanner, normally employed in biometric verification, was also seized among the devices.
Inquiries showed that Niyat Sheikh, a local of Badhua village under Barania police station, used to go to Inamul Sheikh’s shop on a daily basis to produce counterfeit identity cards. Police are now suspecting that this is part of a bigger syndicate and the two men will be brought to court for being interrogated in jail. Authorities want to know how many fake Aadhaar cards were produced and if they were distributed in other districts.
This revelation contributes to heightened anxiety regarding Murshidabad’s rising susceptibility to illicit activities, particularly considering the district’s proximity to the border country. Weeks ago, the region had just seen communal disturbances amid Waqf Amendment Bill protests, again defining the restive nature of the region.
Significantly, this is not the first time a counterfeit Aadhaar card racket has been reported to have emanated from Murshidabad. On May 16, officers from the Sagarpara police station conducted an identical raid in the Baromasia locality and arrested two other persons, Sanaullah Sheikh, 32, and Anwar Rahman, 30. Both men were apprehended after a midnight raid on a shop in Narsinghpur Bazar, which was reportedly being utilised to produce counterfeit Aadhaar cards.
That raid, carried out by a police squad headed by Sub-Inspector Serajus, led to the confiscation of two laptops (HP and Lenovo), an Epson printer, two Epson scanners, two mobile phones, four SIM cards, and three printed counterfeit Aadhaar cards. The accused admitted to charging between Rs. 5,000 and Rs 6,000 for every forged identity document. In initial questioning, they acknowledged being part of a wider network but declined to identify other associates for fear of undermining current investigations.
The two men were led into court and remanded for four days in the custody of police. Officials are now racing to track their collaborators and estimate how many of the false documents may already have been distributed.
Both instances highlight the increased complexity and expanse of forgery networks of identities in border areas such as Murshidabad. The employment of sophisticated biometric machinery, government-seeming stamps, and computerised printing equipment implies a degree of technical competence that creates a serious threat to the authenticity of India’s digital identification infrastructure.
The Aadhaar platform, governed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is the bedrock of digital governance and welfare transfer in India. Any compromise of its security framework not only erodes public confidence but also invites extensive abuse in banking, telecom, government subsidies, and even elections.
Security experts have long flagged Murshidabad as a region requiring heightened surveillance due to its porous international border and history of administrative negligence. The recent incidents have reignited calls for stricter monitoring of Aadhaar enrollment mechanisms, more frequent audits of biometric infrastructure, and tighter inter-agency coordination between state police, UIDAI, and intelligence agencies.
Though the arrests represent a big step, officials admit that eradicating the entire scope of the racket would need determination. The next step now is to see through the operations of the network in other regions of the state and to ensure there is no more exploitation of false identities.
As the probe goes deeper, these cases are a wake-up call for the government and people that the battle to protect digital identity in the world’s largest democracy is not even close to being over.
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