FIR filed after MLA Rohit Pawar shows creation of fake Aadhaar card in Trump name

Police have registered an FIR in Mumbai against unidentified persons after Maharashtra NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar showed the preparation of a fake Aadhaar card in US President Donald Trump's name and its use to register bogus voters, officials said on Thursday. Pawar termed the registration of the FIR as "funny" and noted he was just demonstrating how the Aadhaar card system was "flawed" and insisted no forgery was involved in his action. Talking to reporters in Pune, the Opposition MLA on Thursday said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should have called him to seek details and ordered an investigation into the matter. "But after wasting 15 days, all they have done is file a useless FIR," the NCP (SP) general secretary added.

Pawar, during a press conference on October 16, demonstrated how fake Aadhaar cards were being prepared on a website and used to register bogus voters. BJP's social media cell co-convener Dhananjay Wagaskar had watched this content on a YouTube channel, wherein allegations were also made against an office-bearer of his party. Taking serious cognisance of it, Wagaskar filed a police complaint against the unidentified creator, owner and user of the website and others, a police official said. The complainant claimed a fraudulent act was committed by the political leader that endangered social security by inciting anger and hatred among the public against an "autonomous institution in India" and his party (BJP), as per the FIR. By creating bogus Aadhaar cards through a bogus website, an attempt was made to mislead and create discord and enmity between two groups in society, he alleged. Based on the complaint, the cyber police here on Tuesday registered a case against two unidentified persons under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections for forgery, identity theft, circulating false information and provisions of the Information Technology Act, he said.

Rohit Pawar had on October 16 alleged that after the unfavourable results for the BJP-led Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha elections last year, there were malpractices such as registration of bogus voters, bulk deletion of genuine voters and double registration of voters. "Unfavourable" voters were shown as dead, and bogus voting took place in the name of dead persons, Pawar claimed. Between 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 32 lakh voters were added, which amounted to addition of 6.5 lakh voters per year or 54,000 per month. But between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the Maharashtra assembly polls, 48 lakh voters were added in just six months, the NCP (SP) leader said. In his own Karjat Jamkhed assembly constituency in western Maharashtra, 14,292 voters were added, 5,360 names were deleted and 14,162 duplicate names were inserted in voter rolls after the Lok Sabha elections, he had alleged. There were instances where the Aadhaar card of a voter in one constituency was used for the registration of another voter in a different constituency with the photo and name changed, the NCP (SP) MLA said. On Thursday, Pawar defended his action of showing "loopholes" in the issuance of Aadhaar cards, a key identity document. "All points mentioned in the FIR are irrelevant. Through my demonstration, I was only trying to tell the government that the Aadhaar system has loopholes and that there are certain software through which fake Aadhaar cards can be generated," he said. The NCP (SP) general secretary alleged the BJP had used fake Aadhaar cards for election purposes. "That is why, when I demonstrated the creation of a fake Aadhaar card in Trump's name, the BJP felt threatened and filed an FIR," he said. The MLA maintained police machinery should be used to address real issues and not to target political opponents. "If needed, I will move the court," he said, adding the case was registered on the complaint of a BJP functionary. "The police conducted an inquiry, but the offence was registered on the complaint of a BJP troll. If a person who gets 40 paise per tweet files a complaint, why should I give it any importance?" he said.