Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi, Jan 7: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has filed a first information report (FIR) against the newspaper ‘The Tribune’ and its journalist Rachna Khaira, who reported that demographic data associated with Aadhaar numbers was being sold over WhatsApp for as little as Rs 500 by anonymous sellers.

The UIDAI has also issued a letter to The Tribune asking them to submit details on the alleged purchase of Aadhaar database, if they were able to access biometric details of the users and how many Aadhaar numbers did the reporter actually enter through the portal. The newspaper is asked to answer the questions and submit details by January 8 and if failed to do so, the UIDAI will consider that no biometric details were accessed.

The report published by ‘The Tribune’ on January 4 titled ‘Rs 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details’ had gone viral. The UIDAI and BJP had termed the article as ‘fake news’.

According to a report in The Indian Express, a deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has registered an FIR, which also names Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Raj (all of whom were contacted by the Tribune reporter as part of the story).

Joint commissioner of police (crime branch) Alok Kumar confirmed to The Indian Express that an FIR had been lodged with the crime branch’s cyber cell “under IPC Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document), as well Section 66 of the IT Act and Section 36/37 of the Aadhaar Act”.