Surat: Aadhaar-Based Biometric Data of Ration Card Holders Leaked

An RTI activist alleged that biometric data of over 1.27 crore people had been leaked in Gujarat.

File photo of people waiting outside a closed ration shop to buy kerosene. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Reuters)

A Surat-based RTI activist on Sunday, 4 February, alleged that the biometric data of over 1.27 crore people had been leaked in Gujarat and were being used in the black market by the mafia to sell subsidised ration illegally.

“Around 1.27 crore ration cards have been issued in Gujarat that covers around 6.16 crore people in the state,” RTI activist Ajay Jangid told The Indian Express.

On an average, each ration card has only one member’s biometric proof (fingerprints) registered with the public distribution system. And, it’s a serious thing that biometric data of all these 1.27 ration cardholders have been leaked. And using those leaked data, ration is being lifted by black market mafias.

The comments by the RTI activist came a day after the police nabbed two ration shop owners from the city for alleged irregularities in using Aadhaar for a state-sponsored scheme.

Jangid also added that the data leaked included the identities of noted personalities like the BJP MP Darshana Jardosh, and Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Paresh Dhanani.

Four Arrested in Surat Over Separate Aadhaar-Based Data Crime

The Surat police on 3 February arrested two men in the city for allegedly pilfering subsidised foodgrain by using hacked software and unauthorised biometric Aadhaar data of beneficiaries. According to reports, the accused reportedly sold the data to traders at Rs 15,000, reported the daily.

Explaining the modus operandi of the two arrested accused, Crime Branch Inspector BN Dave told reporters: “The state government had in April 2016 launched the Annapurna Yojana under the National Food Security Act-2013. Fair price shops, renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal grahak bhandar, were computerised so that subsidised food items reached the actual beneficiaries”.

The arrested duo, he said, used a duplicate software and obtained a data bank of beneficiaries from an unknown source. He told reporters:

They used this data bank to create an electronic record every month to show that beneficiaries had obtained subsidised foodgrain when in reality they had not,

Inspector Dave said that investigations were underway to find out the source of the fake software as well as the biometric data.

City Inspector Satish Sharma told The Times of India that data was not stolen from the Aadhaar database, but instead could have been saved by a private agency that had acquired it through a contract from the government to link it ration cards.

It is possible that data was saved by somebody in those agencies and later sold illegally.

A day later, on 4 February, the police nabbed two other persons for allegedly modifying the data using rubber thumbs, reported TOI. The accused reportedly modified the data of those who approached them, such as updating addresses and other such details, using the rubber thumb for a cost of Rs 300.

Earlier, eight separate FIRs were lodged against as many fair price shop owners in the city following an investigation carried out by the district administration after some beneficiaries complained. The matter was then handed over to the Crime Branch.

Police said that the two had been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including section 406, 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467, 468, 471 (forgery), as well as sections of the Information Technology Act and the Essential Commodities Act.

(With inputs from PTI and The Indian Express)