Police bust fake ESI, e-Pehachan cards racket, 5 arrested

The fraudsters used the names of non-existent companies to create fake ESI and e-Pehachan cards. Patients were often tricked into paying amounts ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹2 lakh

Five people have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police for their involvement in illegally registering non-existent companies on government websites and using these bogus entities to issue fake Employment State Insurance (ESI) and e-Pehachan cards to patients.

The illegal activity came to light after the CCB police received a complaint regarding the fraudulent creation of ESI cards. (File photo)

CCB deputy commissioner of police Srinivas Gowda said that the accused were identified as Sridhar(55), a security guard at the ESI Hospital in Rajajinagar, Ramesh (50), owner of the hospital canteen, Shivlinga (35), a former employee of Ramaiah Hospital, Shweta (30), and Shasikala (35) an auditor.

He said: “The fraudsters used the names of non-existent companies to create fake ESI and e-Pehachan cards. Patients, many of whom were financially distressed, were often tricked into paying amounts ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹2 lakh. In return, they were issued fake ESI cards. The fraudster, meanwhile, would pay ₹500 paid to the government as part of the scheme. However, only ₹280 went to the government, while the remaining ₹220 was pocketed by the accused.”

He said that the illegal activity came to light after the CCB police received a complaint regarding the fraudulent creation of ESI cards. “Investigations revealed that Shasikala, one of the accused, had been producing fake ESI cards at her home for over two years. During the raids, the police seized several items including fake ESI cards, fake company seals, stamps of doctors from various hospitals, four laptops, and ₹59,500 in cash,” he said.

He pointed out that the investigation also revealed that the accused had issued fake cards to approximately 869 people over the past two years.

“We received complaint from ESI authorities about fake companies availing ESI facility last week. We swung into action and managed to nab all five accused and booked under BNS section 338 (Forgery of vulnerable security) and 336 (forgery) and produced before ACMM court, which remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. The accused issued cards to 869 people so far,” he said.

“The accused had been involved in this crime since 2018, stopped briefly during Covid and after the pandemic they started again,” he added.