The Delhi Police on Monday arrested six people in two cases related to voter ID forgery at Shaheen Bagh and said that the evidence collected “indicates a systematic misuse of technology and forged documents to manipulate the electoral registration process”.
The arrests were made following complaints lodged by Vinod Kumar, the Electoral Registration Officer for Okhla Assembly Constituency, who reported that several individuals had submitted forged documents for electoral roll applications.
Ravi Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East Delhi), said the FIRs were registered on December 26 and 29. As per the complaints, the accused used falsified documents, including Aadhaar cards and electricity bills, to create or modify voter IDs, Singh added.
The police identified the arrested accused as Muhammad Naim, 32, Rizwan Ul Haq, 30, Sabana Khatoon, Rajat Srivastava, 27, Trilok Chand, 51, and Sachin Kumar, 27. The accused were arrested by a team led by Inspector Dinesh Morale, Station House Officer, Shaheen Bagh police station, under the supervision of Jai Narain, Assistant Commissioner of Police, New Friends Colony, while recovering a computer used to create the forged documents.
“Srivastava, a cybercafe operator in Jasola, was linked to both forgery cases. He forged electricity bills for multiple individuals using PDF editing tools. Chand, a private tutor from Malviya Nagar, was found to collaborate with him in creating fraudulent documents and is known to one accused, Kisunee, for four-five years,” said DCP Singh. Chand had also helped Sachin, a housekeeping employee at a hospital in Delhi, to forge documents of his uncle, a hearing- and speech-impaired person, to transfer land ownership from his uncle’s name, Singh added.
The officer said that Haq, a cybercafe owner from Shaheen Bagh, allegedly used Photoshop to forge electricity bills for Naim, an electrician who applied for a change of address on his voter ID card using fake documents. “Khatoon, a housewife from Shaheen Bagh, was also found using forged electricity bills to apply for an address change on her voter ID card,” DCP Singh said.
He further mentioned, “Efforts are being made to identify and apprehend other individuals involved in the forgery network. Evidence collected so far indicates a systematic misuse of technology and forged documents to manipulate the electoral registration process.”
