An MBA student was arrested in Surat for forging the signature of Varachha MLA and using it to upload Aadhaar updates onto a government website.

Deepak Patnayak, a native of Odisha, had been forging Aadhaar documents. If someone lacked proper house documents for address verification, he would charge them ₹200, forge the MLA’s signature to approve and verify the details, and then upload the information to the government website.

Kapodra police in Surat received intelligence that a student was using fake signatures and stamps to correct addresses on both PAN and Aadhaar cards. Acting on this information, they arrested Patnayak from Saurashtra Circle, Kapodra.

Upon searching his phone, the police discovered photos of fake documents. A subsequent raid on his office led to the seizure of a computer, a fingerprint scanning device, and counterfeit stamps bearing the name of Varachha MLA Kishore Kanani.

During questioning, Patnayak revealed that he is pursuing an MBA from Indira Gandhi Open University and had been carrying out the illicit activities for the past three and a half months.