In Hyderabad, the Commissioner Task Force, Central Zone team uncovered a fingerprint cloning scheme and arrested two Sanitation Field Assistants (SFA) from GHMC, Circle-XVI, Amberpet division. The two accused, P Shivaiah Umesh (40) and J Shivaram (40), were SFAs employed by GHMC on a contract basis through Rupesh Educational Society for the past two years. They were caught illegally claiming salaries of absent sanitation workers by using cloned fingerprints. The police seized 31 cloned prints/thumb impressions and two biometric attendance devices from the accused individuals.
These SFAs were responsible for supervising sanitation workers and tracking their daily attendance using biometric devices provided by GHMC. The devices stored details of sanitation workers, and their attendance was recorded through thumb impressions. To fraudulently claim wages of absent workers, Umesh and Shivaram created fake fingerprints by watching tutorials on YouTube. They collected 35 thumb impressions in total, with 21 under Umesh’s supervision and 14 under Shivaram’s. They agreed to split the wages earned through this illegal scheme.
For the past two years, around 20 sanitation workers were absent for each shift due to this scam, resulting in a monthly loss of approximately Rs 3.60 lakh for the GHMC department. Over 12 months, this amounted to Rs 43.20 lakh, and over two years, it reached Rs 86.40 lakh. In Hyderabad, there are about 900 SFAs across 30 GHMC circles, overseeing roughly 24,000 sweepers and public health workers.
