Gang cloned fingerprints, planned biometric fraud
LUCKNOW: The gang, which allegedly planned to use hi-tech devices to try and aid cheating during the police recruitment exam on Monday, cloned the fingerprints of candidates in a bid to circumvent the biometric system installed by the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, those privy to the investigation said.
The gang also relied on blue tooth devices, photo shop, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets, they added.
The arrested gang members told the Gorakhpur unit of the Special Task Force (STF) during interrogation that they collected fingerprints of 70 candidates on M Seal (a multipurpose sealant) and dispatched them to a Kolkata laboratory to prepare clones.
The cloned fingerprints were handed over to the solvers who were to appear for the candidates from whom the gang had charged a hefty sum.
The mastermind Anil Giri was in touch with one Ravi Kumar, an employee of a Kolkata forensic laboratory, officials familiar with the case said. Kumar charged Rs 7,000 for cloning the fingerprint of each candidate, they said.
Using photoshop, the gang planned to replace the candidates’ photos with those of the solvers to generate fake identity and admit cards.
A week before the test, the gang members came to know that the Board will collect biometrics of all fingers, instead of just one, at the examination centers. They then dumped the plan to use cloned fingerprints of the
original candidate for the time being. Instead, they decided to have the solver give his fingerprint for biometric attendance.
Later, the solver’s fingerprint too were cloned by the same laboratory and then used by the original candidate for the medical examination and during joining service.
Before the gang could execute its plan, its members were nabbed by the STF that was on their trail.
SSP, STF, Abhisek Singh said, the district police had registered an FIR in the case. The police will probe the role of the Kolkata based laboratory in preparing the clone of fingerprints.
UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board chairman GP Sharma said biometrics will be matched at all the stages. It was a foolproof measure and could not be circumvented, he said.