Fake letter on linking Aadhaar to land records goes viral, Delhi police files FIR

A senior government official today approached police with a complaint that a fake letter, issued by the cabinet secretariat about digitisation of land records, was being circulated with his forged signature.

A case was being registered on the complaint of Sheo Nath Singh, an undersecretary in the government whose signature is there on the letter, police said.

The case was registered at South Avenue Police Stations after the complaint by an Under Secretary of Cabinet Secretariat against unknown persons for sharing a fake letter on social media.

The letter, which emerged on social media and has Cabinet Secretariat written on the top, reportedly mandated all the chief secretaries, additional chief secretaries of states and union territories to "complete the digitisation of land records, sale records from 1950" by August 14.

It also said that the government is "considering linking Aadhar numbers with the ownership of said properties" and those properties that are not linked shall be considered for action under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016.

Singh approached the police and claimed that his signatures have been forged, the police said, adding that a case was being registered at the South Avenue police station.

Director General of Press Information Bureau (PIB), Frank Noronha also tweeted about the letter being fake.

"The letter attributed to Cabinet Secretariat on #Aadhaar linking to Land records, is completely fake & mischievous," he wrote on Twitter.