CHANDIGARH, Oct 28 — The Chandigarh Police have launched an investigation into the fraudulent disposal of traffic challans allegedly processed through a compromised district court ID. Though a secret FIR has been registered under multiple provisions of the IT Act and IPC, no arrests have been made yet, officials said Monday.
The case surfaced when several challans were found marked “disposed of” in the court’s online system without ever being brought before the presiding officer. The receipts linked to those transactions were later found to mismatch official court records.
Police said preliminary findings suggest that the login credentials of an Ahlmad (court clerk) may have been used without authorisation. The concerned Ahlmad has denied sharing his ID or password. “We are verifying whether it was an insider misuse or an external cyber intrusion,” a police officer said.
The Sector 36 police registered the case under IPC sections related to cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy, along with Sections 66B, 66C, and 66D of the Information Technology Act. The cyber cell is analysing system logs to trace the IP address used for the unauthorised activity.
Officials said the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which operates the online traffic challan platform, has allotted nearly 20 login IDs to the district courts. These IDs are used by Ahlmads to update case status once the court orders a fine and payment is made.
Despite the FIR being filed several weeks ago, the investigation has not yielded any concrete leads. “Digital evidence is being recovered with NIC’s assistance. If anyone’s involvement is suspected, they will be summoned for questioning,” said the investigating officer.
The incident follows a similar case in September when fraudsters allegedly duped several people by offering to “settle” their challans through court IDs. That case had resulted in the arrest of two lawyers and another accused after their anticipatory bail pleas were rejected.
