In a significant crackdown, the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Navsari police apprehended a man on Saturday for his alleged involvement in a sophisticated counterfeit driving licence operation. The arrest took place in Vansda village, leading to the recovery of a large cache of fake documents.
Tech-Savvy Accused and Modus Operandi
The individual taken into custody was identified as Jigar Patel, a 31-year-old resident of Chikhli. According to police, Patel is a BTech graduate in Electrical engineering from Government Engineering College, Surat (2016) and was reportedly pursuing an MTech from Monark University in Ahmedabad at the time of his arrest.
Investigations revealed that Patel, who was unemployed, turned to crime for easy money. His method was surprisingly tech-simple yet effective. Police Inspector P Y Chitte stated that Patel used a photo-editing mobile application to manipulate his own original driving licence. He would photograph the genuine DL, edit the image to replace personal details and photographs with those of his clients, and then get the forged data printed onto plastic cards.
The finished counterfeit licences were of such high quality that they closely resembled original RTO-issued documents, making visual detection nearly impossible without official verification.
Seizure and Shocking Findings
During the operation, authorities confiscated a total of 59 driving licences of various categories from Patel's possession. The breakdown of the seized items is as follows:
- 30 DL cards without the mandatory golden electronic chips.
- 21 DL cards that were fitted with electronic chips.
- Six learner's driving licences.
- Two other DL cards.
The accused allegedly charged Rs 4,000 for each duplicate licence he produced. A subsequent verification process at the Navsari Regional Transport Office (RTO) uncovered the extent of the fraud. For the batch of 32 licences lacking chips, a shocking pattern emerged:
- No official data existed for 20 of the licence numbers.
- Seven licence numbers were found to be originally issued to different individuals by the Navsari and Vyara RTOs.
- Only three licences carried numbers that were genuine.
Further investigation into all the seized licences is currently ongoing.
Implications and Police Warning
This case highlights a glaring vulnerability in document verification processes that rely solely on physical inspection. Police have issued a clear warning that these bogus DL cards were so accurately made that detecting them as fake is impossible without a direct check with the RTO database.
The arrest of an educated individual like Patel, who used his technical knowledge for illicit gains, adds a concerning dimension to the crime. The incident underscores the need for enhanced security features in official documents and more robust verification mechanisms to prevent such frauds that compromise road safety and legal integrity.
