Pay Rs500 and get an Aadhaar: IndiaNews' sting operation

In what appears to be the tip of an iceberg, the sting operation by IndiaNews highlights dangers of giving 'Aadhaar' to illegal immigrants that would help them to get all benefits meant for Indian citizens

IndiaNews, a Hindi TV news channel has unearthed a scam where anyone can buyAadhaar or the unique identity number by paying just Rs500. According to a sting operation carried out by the channel in Noida, one person Samir (who is allegedly an employee of Smart Chip Ltd) used to provide Aadhaar letter without taking any proof from the applicant.

The report says Samir was issuing Aadhaar letters to even non-Indians on payment ofRs500 or more.

As per Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) the person enrolling for its UID number scheme, has to either submit proof of identity (POI) or address (POA), date of birth and proof of residence (POR). This however, can be sidelined as UIDAI says "Resident who does not have POI and POA may get enrolled through an Introducer/ Head of Family".

IndiaNews is run by Kartikeya Sharma, who recently bought News X and The Sunday Guardian.