OTPs for access to PPP portal were sold for Rs 7K: Probe

One-time passwords (OTPs) were reportedly sold by the accused employees of the Citizen Resources Information Department (CRID) here to some operators of the Common Service Centres (CSCs) so that they could access the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) portal to amend details of family IDs illegally, claim sources.

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This has come to the fore during an investigation being conducted by the Haryana Parivar Pehchan Authorities (HPPA) and the police into a case pertaining to data tampering.

Three CRID employees were arrested in the case some days ago during preliminary investigation. They are, at present, lodged in jail.

“During police interrogation, the accused disclosed that they used to charge Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per OTP in lieu of facilitating the CSC operators for a one-time log-in. WhatsApp chats in the cell phones of the accused employees have also established the fact,” said Arun Mahendru, Security Analyst, HPPA.

He said the OTP was used to log-in the user ID of CRID employees on the portal. “One can amend the particulars of family IDs till the access session does not expire. The session lasts long if the portal is not left idle or the user ID is not logged out, hence the possibility of using the portal for a long session at a time cannot be ruled out. The probe is underway to find out more details,” he said.

The sources claimed that the investigation indicated that data tampering had been going on for months. An FIR was also registered some months ago on the complaint of the local office of CRID regarding changes in many family IDs by illegally using the official log-in.

“Around 60 family IDs, in which income was changed from that log-in during a particular period, were also brought to the original form. The ID holders were also asked to move fresh applications, along with required supportive documents if they wanted to get their income changed in their family IDs,” the sources said.

No inquiry was conducted by the HPPA in the matter at that time as the local office did not inform the headquarters about the FIR. “The case also came to light during the ongoing probe into data tampering,” they said.