3,485 family IDs 'altered' using same document in Jhajjar, reveals inquiry

Another startling development has emerged in the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP)-tampering case, as revealed in the supplementary chargesheet recently submitted by the district police to the court.

According to a report compiled by Arun Mahendru, Security Analyst at the Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authority (HPPA), one PDF document was used to modify PPP data in as many as 3,485 cases. Significantly, 13 specific documents were also identified to have been uploaded over 100 times each, suggesting widespread misuse.

The racket first came to light in November 2023 when the local police arrested three local employees of the Citizen Resources Information Department (CRID) for illegally altering PPP details through the official portal. Since then, a total of seven persons have been arrested and the investigation is on.

The HPPA report also highlights that 239 of the requests included scanned images of bank passbooks that did not belong to the applicants. Additionally, 129 requests were found to contain blurred or poor-quality documents, pointing to serious lapses in the verification process.

"The analysis highlights severe irregularities in the document-submission process, including mass duplication, fraudulent modification and repeated use of irrelevant or forged documents. Additionally, technical analysis confirms the repeated usage of identical documents across multiple requests, further reinforcing the evidence of malpractice. The direct association of certain documents with an official necessitates further investigation into his involvement in the case," concludes the HPPA in the report.

Sources further revealed that the majority of the fraudulent requests involved the removal of a family member from the PPP — most commonly in cases of divorce.

“To initiate changes in the PPP details, applicants are required to submit supporting documents, which are typically verified by CRID officials at multiple levels to prevent any misuse. However, in these particular cases, the verification process was deliberately bypassed as officials concerned were allegedly involved in the fraud and they had accepted bribes in exchange for approving the unauthorised changes,” claimed an official.

Normally, when a request is submitted to modify PPP details, a one-time password (OTP) is automatically sent to the mobile number of the family member against whom the request has been made in order to verify the request.

"However, in the PPP-tampering case, the accused officials allegedly manipulated the process to have these OTPs sent to their own mobile phones. This allowed them to make unauthorised changes to the PPP records without facing any procedural hurdles," claimed the official.

Arun Mahendru confirmed the report but refused to divulge further details at this stage.

Inspector Somvir, Incharge, Cyber Police Station, Jhajjar, confirmed that seven persons had been arrested so far and the investigation was underway into the matter.