Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Minor changes in two fingers and a thumbprint gave impersonators chance to enter exam centres and take Police Constable Recruitment Exam–2023, officials said.
Investigations revealed that employees at Aadhaar centres were aware of the loopholes in the biometric update system and they helped the impersonators to clear biometric during updation.
The slight manipulation in the thumb and fingerprints during biometric update let the solvers write the exam impersonating the real candidate, said the officials investigating the scam. Recently, the MP Police busted a racket where solvers manipulated Aadhaar details and managed to appear for the constable recruitment 2023 exam.
An official privy to the investigation told Free Press, “With the help of Aadhaar centre employees, the fingerprints of the two fingers and a thumb were replaced with those of the solver. The Aadhaar photograph was matched with the impersonator’s and deliberately blurred.
“When the solver reached the exam centre, officials initially raised objections after checking the blurred photograph. However, when the impersonator passed biometric authentication, authorities allowed him to appear in the exam,” the official added.
How a paragraph writing and pic busted the fraud
A simple step taken by the authorities at the examination centre played a key role in busting the scam. The authorities at the centre made each examinee write a short paragraph at the exam centre, and a clear photograph was taken on-site.
During the investigation, when successful candidates reported for joining, they were asked to write a paragraph on the same topic and their new photographs were matched with those taken during the exam, physical test, and at the time of joining. This revealed the mismatch and confirmed the impersonation.
Number of accused rises to 32
ADG (Selection and Recruitment) Sonali Mishra told Free Press that the number of FIRs registered in connection with the scam has risen to 22, and the number of accused to 32. “A few more names are emerging, and the police are working to arrest all those involved,” she added.
