Lok Sabha Polls 2024: Man Uses Fake Website To Make Fake Voter ID Cards In Madhya Pradesh, Arrested

Madhya Pradesh cyber police busted a nexus of making fake voter ID cards ahead of Lok Sabha elections and arrested one person in this regard from Bihar, an official said on Wednesday.

According to the police, an unidentified person was making fake voter ID cards through a fake website and the Election Commission of India (ECI) has reported its complaint to the Chief Electoral Officers of all the states. Acting on it, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer reported the issue to the State Cyber Police Headquarters on March 30.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP, Cyber Police) Yogesh Deshmukh told news agency ANI, "Acting on the complaint, cyber police registered a case under IPC sections 419, 420, 467, 468 and sections 66 C and 66 D of the IT act and started an investigation. The state cyber team collected evidence, identified the mastermind accused of the case and arrested him from East Champaran, Bihar in just two weeks."

Through the fake website created by the accused, any person can use the photo, name, address, signature and other information of anyone else to get a fake voter ID card, Aadhar card, Pan card by paying only Rs 20 through QR code, the officer said.

The official further said "The accused had learned to create fake websites from YouTube. The accused adopted several methods to keep his identity confidential like using fake sim cards and having fake bank accounts. The accused has been identified as Ranjan Chaubey (20). In view of the threat to national security, investigation is also being done to find whether any involvement from outside the country."

State cyber cell is searching for people who have downloaded fake voter ID cards from the fake website till now, he added.

Meanwhile, the cyber police also advised citizens to use only official websites to get the prints of their Voter ID Card, Aadhaar Card and PAN Card.

Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh will be conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling would be held on April 19, followed by April 26, May 7 and May 13.

Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, making it the sixth-largest state in terms of parliamentary representation. Out of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved.

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