Police say racket was on since 2015 with help from agents who help people apply for govt.-issued identity cards

The two men arrested last week in a fake documents racket are suspected to have put hundreds of fake Aadhar and PAN cards into circulation, Crime Branch officers said on Tuesday.

On February 9, the Crime Branch’s Unit II had arrested Sunil Chaudhari (35) and Attaullah Abdul Malik (25) for allegedly selling forged documents including driving licenses, Aadhaar, PAN and voter identity cards.

Police also recovered hundreds of blank cards from the accused’s office in Masjid Bunder. The duo claimed the racket was operational since 2015. It is suspected that the accused were involved in a card-cloning racket as well, as some blank debit cards were seized from their office during the search.

Police said Mr. Chaudhari and Mr. Malik were working in collaboration with agents who help in obtaining government identification documents. The accused would produce fake documents as per requirement, using scanned copies of genuine documents.

They said the duo would sell up to 15 such documents daily. A Crime Branch officer said the forgery wasn’t easily detectable. “They’d be rejected at government offices, but could be used to apply for services like SIM cards, employment in small businesses and renting property in slum pockets. The racket’s success was due to people not insisting on cross-verifying photocopies with originals.”

Mr. Chaudhari was the alleged mastermind, police said, adding he had been arrested for a similar offence in 2011. After obtaining bail in the case, he opened the office in Masjid Bunder and started the racket with Mr. Malik, whose records are being checked.

The police is also working on identifying and apprehending the agents who collaborated with the accused. At least 10 such agents located across the city are suspected to have been involved.