A mentally ill man in his mid-thirties, who had the habit of calling the aadhaar helpline and asking the aadhaar details of many people, was detained on Monday after he sought details of senior TV journalist Nidhi Razdan.
Police registered an FIR under Aadhar Act and detained accused AG Sharma, a resident of outer Delhi's Najafgarh area, for questioning where his mental issue was revealed. Police did not arrest him as his intentions were not harmful.
"It was his mental condition that led him to this practice and he had no malafide intentions," an official said.
Police said accused Sharma would make frequent calls to the aadhaar helpline managed by TBSS (Tata Business Support Service) and seek biometric details of many people.
The case was registered on July 19 when Sharma called and sought for the EID (aadhaar enrollment ID) details of Razdan.
"The TBSS immediately reported about the man to the UIDAI office and deputy director Rupesh Sharma was apprised too. He then complained to the Crime Branch and the matter was taken up. The True Caller search details of the mobile number of the accused, showed the name of Sharma. We put the number on surveillance and tracked the address of the man after which a team went to his residence and detained him for interrogation," said a senior police official.
Rupesh in his complaint to police wrote that it seems to be case of impersonation and this is the first time someone else was found seeking the Aadhaar details of other persons from the helpline
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Bhishm Singh, said a case in this respect has been registered under section 36 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016(Targeted Delivery of Financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) read with section 419(punishment for impersonation) of the Indian Penal Code.
During interrogation of the accused, police also contacted his relatives who said that he was mentally disturbed and his medical reports also indicated the same.
"Sharma is an educated man and also used to do a private job which he later quit. He started indulging in seeking aadhaar details of other persons but was always refused from the BPO," said police officer.