Arrest of labourer in Saif Ali Khan attack case triggers debate on background checks; developers say full identity verification 'impossible'

With the scale of construction activity in India, developers say that it is virtually impossible to ensure proper identity and background checks for thousands of workers

In the wake of reports that the man who is said to have attacked film actor Saif Ali Khan in his Mumbai residence is a labourer and possibly not a citizen of India and may have faked his identity, developers and construction industry insiders say that full verification of identities and criminal records of labourers is a near-impossible task.

The increasing level of outsourcing of labourers from far other states make it even harder, they say.

The suspect in the Saif Ali Khan case was arrested from Thane, near a labour camp of a construction site. While the police say he is a Bangladeshi citizen and entered the country around six months ago, the suspect's lawyer has denied it, according to media reports.

Sources said that the Maharashtra government has asked real estate developers and construction agencies to ensure complete background verification and identification of workforce at project sites and labour camps.

Many labour contractors are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and some north-eastern states, and workers are recruited in bulk from villages and small towns. Often, they are housed in temporary labour camps at or near project sites by developers or contractors.

Recruitment and verification process

Most large developers engage full-time engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms to build their projects, while some developers prefer to construct these projects themselves. Some also have their in-house construction arms. The EPC firms, in turn, recruit skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labourers through a network of contractors in the sector.

Developers say that, on their part, they ensure identity verification of labourers and peace in labour camps.

"The contractors must ensure that all labourers are hired only after mandatory background checks. This includes verification of Aadhaar cards. These measures are non-negotiable and must be strictly adhered to before deployment on-site. There are around 10,500 labourers at several sites at the group level," said Ashish Puravankara, managing director of listed developer Puravankara Ltd.

He added that periodic audits of labour records and verification processes, and detailed files of each worker are a must.

According to a large developer with projects across most major cities, proper identification, certification and criminal background check of labourers are largely delegated to EPC partners and labour contractors.

"At Hiranandani, worker safety and well-being are top priorities. All labourers undergo Aadhaar verification, health check-ups, and safety induction before receiving an entry pass. We also focus on continuous efficiency monitoring, regular training, and a zero-tolerance policy for physical altercations. Those causing trouble are immediately removed from labour camps. With over 2,000 workers across our sites, these measures reflect our strong commitment to safety and excellence," said Niranjan Hiranandani, founder and chairman of Hiranandani Group.

Full identity verification too difficult

With the scale of construction in India, he said that full verification of identities, nationalities, and criminal backgrounds of tens of thousands of workers is a tall order, despite reports of workers with fake identities and possible foreign nationalities making their way to construction sites.

"We give a checklist to our EPC contractor regarding labour recruitment, and we mandate that they have to verify the identities. This generally happens through a police verification, as well as through word-of-mouth in the workers' villages, as many of them in a construction project are from the same village or town," a big developer, having projects across India, told Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity.

"We have heard of a few cases from our EPC and labour contractors that some of the Aadhaar or PAN IDs were prima facie fake, but we cannot verify each and every one of the thousands of workers on our worksites," he said.

An observer in the construction space added that with the border between India and Bangladesh being porous and counterfeit Indian identity cards being available in many parts of India for a small sum, a large number of foreign workers masquerading as Indians may be a distinct possibility.

Another listed developer having projects across the country echoed similar concerns and said that detailed background checks of labourers, especially of unskilled workers, remains “largely unorganised” in the country as in most cases they are outsourced and availability of fake documents makes it even more difficult.

“Generally, we ensure that no anti-social elements enter our project site but there have been cases when unskilled labourers made their way to sites on the basis of fake documents. We cannot completely regulate it. For skilled and semi-skilled workers, we check their certifications and contractors or check with previous employers, but it is very difficult to do this for unskilled workforce,” he said.