So, EPF is no longer a safe investment?

Apparently, 1 in every 3 claims (partial/final claims) are being rejected by EPFO.

(source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/rejection-of-final-epf-claims-sees-surge-in-5-yrs-up-from-13-to-34-9177874/)

In the comments, people have mentioned a nightmare of multiple claims being rejected despite the name matching on all documents and required documents being uploaded. Some people are waging this repeated claim war for years with no luck.

I initially thought about 40% of my retirement corpus could come from EPF. That no longer seems to be an option. Can someone share their experience on your claims?

Is it worth putting any additional money in EPF?

What can we do to avoid our money being forcefully taken from us?