PATNA: Police in Bihar are working to unravel a racket that set up a fake website of the state government agency, Bihar State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation (BSFCSC), and offered online applications for new ration cards. While the genuine website of the BSFCSC is www.sfc.bihar.gov.in, the fake website is www.sfcbihar.net and it looks very similar to the genuine one. It is complete with the logo of the state government and identical photographs of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the state’s food and consumer protection minister Madan Sahni.
After the fake website came to the notice of BSFCSC officials, an FIR was lodged at Patna’s Sachivalay police station on May 17. But the fake website was still online and operational till Tuesday noon. It was taken off about two hours after enquiries were made in police and food and consumer protection departments by this newspaper.
The police are also trying to find out if anyone was duped through the website’s offer of “ration card service” and “ration card enrolment” facility. Police sources said the possibility of fraud exists because in Bihar, people can apply for getting ration cards only by personally visiting the Right to Public Service (RTPS) counters run by the government across the state. There is no provision or practice of applying for ration cards online in the state.