Ahmedabad: System hacked, 120 fake licences issued from Vastral RTO

A case of counterfeit licences being illegally approved in violation of set norms in Vastral RTO has come to the fore following a complaint by assistant RTO inspector with the cyber cell of the city police.

Interestingly, some of these entries were made on the day the office was closed for Christmas. The complaint states that someone got into the Sarthi- 4 software used by the RTO where backlog entries of licences are made to help issue counterfeit licences.

The complaint by Pritesh Solanki, 30 an assistant RTO inspector said that a perusal of data of driving licences showed that 110 such entries were made on December 24, 2018 and 10 more on December 25, 2018.

It further said that while the entries were made using Solanki's login ID, he did not get a One Time Password (OTP) for the logins. Every time an employee of RTO wants to enter the Saarthi-4 system he has to use his login id and password. One can access the system only after giving out an OTP sent on a registered mobile number. He further said that December 25 was a holiday on account of Christmas.

The complaint stated that there were no application forms of the 120 entries made for those two days. Of these 120 entries, many were for approval of licence for heavy duty vehicles. These licences were issued for people who had not studied upto class 8, a mandatory requirement for such licences.

How The System Works

After an application for certain services, the form is signed by the clerk, head clerk and RTO inspector. A clerk then uses this approved form to enter data into the Saarth-4 software. He uses his login id, password and OTP to get into the system. He makes the changes, and it is then approved by the inspector. The licence is then issued to the applicant.