Mangaluru (Karnataka), Sep 12 (PTI) Five persons were arrested here on Friday for allegedly running a racket that forged Aadhaar cards and land records to secure bail for accused in criminal cases, police said.

Police Commissioner Sudhir Kumar Reddy said the racket came to light after fabricated documents were found being submitted in courts and government offices in the recent past.

Police believe the fraud could have affected dozens of cases and government records.

Based on a complaint from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Urwa police first detained Abdul Rehman (46) of Bappanadu. His questioning led to the arrest of Nishanth Kumar (28), who worked at a computer centre in Kodialbail.

Investigations revealed that the accused tampered with Aadhaar cards by inserting their own photographs and posing as genuine individuals to stand surety.

Further probe traced two other cases to the Mangaluru North police station. In one, Nithin Kumar (31) of Bantwal allegedly impersonated “Ganesh K Salyan” to stand surety, while in another, Hasan Riyaz (46) of Sajipa Munnur posed as “A M Hameed” to obtain bail.

Police also arrested Mohammed Hanif of Kavoor, who was allegedly acting as a broker and arranging fake documents for use in courts.

His role emerged during the investigation of the earlier arrests.

Police said more suspects are likely to be involved, and investigations are underway. PTI COR GMS GMS SSK

Forgery of identity documents enabling false sureties led to arrests as probe uncovers tampered IDs and brokered fake records. Allegations describe a scheme of forgery of Aadhaar and falsified land records to obtain bail via false sureties, involving insertion of substitute photographs into identity credentials, impersonation to stand as guarantors, and brokers arranging fabricated documents for submission to courts and government offices; investigations following a Central Crime Branch complaint produced multiple arrests and ongoing inquiries into the wider extent of the fraud and affected records.