A Pakistani Spy and Lord Hanuman Walk Into an Aadhaar Centre. What Does the UIDAI Do?


What could Mehmood Akhtar – a Pakistani high commission staffer who was expelled from India after he allegedly engaged in espionage  – and Lord Hanuman possibly have in common?
Strangely enough, publicly available evidence indicates the following. One, an Aadhaar number. Two, an LPG connection that is linked to their respective Aadhaar numbers. And three, a bank account that is also linked to their Aadhaar numbers.
On October 27, 2016, the Delhi police detained Akhtar for allegedly possessing sensitive defence documents. He however, identified himself as Mehboob Rajput, and produced an Aadhaar ’card’ bearing the name and an address in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk.
The address on the Aadhaar card – 2350, Gali Near Madari, Rodgran Mohalla, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi 110006 – is correct, except that the house is actually on G B Road, Delhi’s red-light area, nearly a kilometre away. He was promptly declared persona non-grata, and was asked to leave immediately.
Did the Pakistani spy really apply, and receive, an Aadhaar number? It’s theoretically possible – any resident of India can sign up and enrolments do not require proof of Indian citizenship.
While the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was silent at the time, news reports quoted senior Delhi police officials who confirmed that Akhtar’s “Aadhaar document” had been obtained through “fraudulent means”, through a man named Yaseer (who supplied fake identification information) and with the involvement of one or more Aadhaar operators employed with an enrolment agency.  
In other words, it appears as if Akhtar had not merely taken a piece of paper and photo-shopped random bits of information onto it, but had instead genuinely obtained an Aadhaar number by supplying fake information. 
While only the UIDAI can confirm this for sure, there is no public evidence that contradicts the Delhi police’s account.
In Parliament, the Modi government has been evasive. In December 2016, Rajya Sabha MP K.V.P Ramachandra Rao asked whether it was “a fact that a Pakistani spy caught in New Delhi in October carried an Aadhaar card issued in his name” and “if so, whether the Government is assessing the possibility of misuse of Aadhaar cards.”
Junior IT minister P.P Chaudhary’s reply was a non-answer, refusing to clearly state one way or the other if the spy received a valid Aadhaar number. His reply, which comes along with a long boilerplate response of how “Aadhaar is generated after quality checks”, merely states that  “Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship or nationality”.
Link: https://thewire.in/213761/uidai-aadhaar-lord-hanuman-pakistani-spy/

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