Telangana Police arrests four more for altering fingerprints via surgery

“The team in Rajasthan, with the help of local police, conducted raids in Banswara and Dungarpur districts. The team in Kerala carried out raids in Kottayam and Kalikat districts to nab those who were absconding,” the officer added.

According to the officer, the four arrested have been identified as Kamalesh (32) and Vishal Kumar (34) from Rajasthan, and Basheer Abdul Khader (45) and Mohammed Rafi (51) from Kerala.

“The arrested had gone through a fingerprint-altering surgery as they wanted to re-enter Kuwait on a fresh visa. The four were planning to update their fingerprints at an Aadhaar centre,” a police officer from the Special Operations Team told South First.

According to police, a total of eight arrests have been made so far in connection with the fingerprint-altering case. “Raids are being conducted to arrest four more people including two women,” the officer added.

The four arrested for modifying their fingerprints illegally through surgery (Supplied)

He said that during the course of their investigation, the police have learnt that the two women have flown to Kuwait after modifying their fingerprints through surgery.

“We have written a letter to the Foreigners Regional Registration Officers (FRRO) to collect the details of the two women who have managed to fly to Kuwait,” the officer added.

The Ghatkesar cops have booked the accused under IPC Sections 420, 467, 468, 472, 475, 109, and 120(B), and relevant sections of the 2016 Aadhaar Act, and have sent them to 14 days of judicial remand.

Fingerprint-changing process

According to the officer, the kingpin of the racket arrested earlier, Gajjalakondugari Naga Muneswar Reddy, is a certified radiological analyst, and his aide Sagabala Venkat Ramana is an anaesthesia technician.

“Ramana learnt about the fingerprint-changing surgery from people who earlier used to work in Kuwait and were deported back to India for illegal stay,” the officer said.

He added that Ramana and Reddy, after learning the fingerprint-changing process, started operating on people to earn easy money.

“They used to charge ₹25,000 for each fingerprint-changing surgery,” the officer added.

According to the police, the duo used to cut the upper layers of the fingertip and remove the tissues using various surgical equipment.

“The wound due to the operation usually healed in two months and due to the cuts, there was a slight alteration in the fingerprint patterns. The new patterns lasted for a year,” the officer said.