Siliguri: The Special Operation Group (SOG) of Siliguri Metropolitan Police, along with Bhaktinagar Police Station, busted a fake Aadhaar card racket operating under the guise of a photography studio. The illegal operation was taking place in a studio located in a multi-storey building on the Eastern Bypass Road in Siliguri.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team conducted the undercover operation by posing as buyers. During the raid, the police caught the forgers red-handed, leading to the arrest of seven individuals involved in the racket. The arrested accused have been identified as Chittaranjan Sarkar (owner of the building), Shasthi Mandal, Titu Das, Biswajit Roy, Mangalu Singh alias Gautam, Hari Kishore Roy, and Abesh Gupta.
The police seized a large number of fake documents from the site, including Aadhaar cards, caste certificates, voter identity cards and PAN cards. Equipment such as computers, colour printers and biometric machines were also recovered. Preliminary investigations suggest that the fake Aadhaar cards were primarily created for people coming from outside the state and for foreign nationals who did not possess proper identification documents. The illegal documents were reportedly being sold for sums ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, with a quick turnaround time of just a few days.
Amit Adhikary, the Inspector in-charge of Bhaktinagar Police Station, confirmed the recovery of several fake identity cards and associated equipment. “We have recovered various fake documents, including Aadhaar cards, voter cards. The entire network is currently under investigation,” he said. Police are now probing the extent of the racket and trying to determine how many fraudulent documents were issued, as well as whether more individuals or larger criminal networks are involved. Police are also investigating the backgrounds of those who obtained these forged documents.