The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested the mastermind of a cyber-forgery racket that created fake digital birth and domicile certificates using an online portal, enabling illegal migrants and others to fraudulently obtain Aadhaar cards and access government welfare schemes, said senior STF officials while sharing a press note.
The officials said the accused, Pramod Kumar Nishad, 28, was arrested near the Rajanwa India-Nepal border in UP’s Bahraich district while allegedly attempting to flee to Nepal. His arrest follows extensive technical surveillance and intelligence gathering by STF cyber unit.
Nishad has been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), and 338 that deal with cheating, personation, offence related to forgery done with intent to cheat and forgery of valuable securities, wills and authority documents respectively at Bahiaich’s Murtihā police station.
During interrogation, Nishad revealed that after learning online form-filling work in 2021, he opened a Jan Seva Kendra in October 2022. About a year ago, he came into contact with one Aqeel Saifi who offered him unauthorised access to a special online portal capable of generating fake digital birth and residence certificates.
Between January and March 2025, Nishad used these forged certificates to create or modify 2,000–2,500 Aadhaar cards, including hundreds for individuals aged 0–18 years. He distributed the portal credentials to dozens of associates by installing the system on their computers, charging ₹45,000 per ID while passing a share to Saifi. Across all operated IDs, the network generated 18,000–19,000 Aadhaar updates and new fraudulent Aadhaar cards, according to STF estimates.
{{/usCountry}}Between January and March 2025, Nishad used these forged certificates to create or modify 2,000–2,500 Aadhaar cards, including hundreds for individuals aged 0–18 years. He distributed the portal credentials to dozens of associates by installing the system on their computers, charging ₹45,000 per ID while passing a share to Saifi. Across all operated IDs, the network generated 18,000–19,000 Aadhaar updates and new fraudulent Aadhaar cards, according to STF estimates.
{{/usCountry}}Officials said the racket posed a grave threat to India’s identity security architecture, as forged Aadhaar cards created using fake digital certificates could help illegal migrants claim Indian nationality, facilitate cross-border infiltration near the Nepal border, enable access to government schemes, subsidies, and public distribution systems and allow individuals to create multiple identities for criminal or anti-national activities.
The STF suspects the network may have been used by individuals seeking to bypass citizenship verification norms in the sensitive border district.