Bengaluru: In a major crackdown on a fake surety racket, Halasuru Gate Police have arrested eight people for allegedly furnishing forged documents, including fake Aadhaar cards, to secure bail for accused persons in various criminal cases.

According to police, two separate gangs were involved in the scam.

Those arrested have been identified as Rafi, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek, Govind Naik and Doreraju in one case, while Aabid, Wasim Ahmed and Govindaraju were arrested in another.

Police investigations revealed that the accused accessed land records of unrelated property owners through the Bhoomi app, Karnataka’s land record portal.

Using these property details, they created fake Aadhaar cards with forged addresses matching the land records.

The gang would insert the photo of the person posing as a surety onto the forged Aadhaar and then prepare additional supporting documents, including fake bank passbooks. These were then submitted to courts to stand as sureties and secure bail for accused persons.

The racket came to light during a court proceeding when suspicious documents submitted in one case were detected as fake.

Court staff from the 4th ACJM Court immediately filed a complaint at Halasuru Gate Police Station, triggering the investigation.

Police have seized a massive haul of fake documents, 47 forged Aadhaar cards ,122 property-related records,Seven mobile phones,One pen drive and fake seals used to stamp forged documents .Preliminary investigation suggests the gang may have facilitated bail for multiple accused persons using the same modus operandi.

The incident has raised serious concerns over the misuse of digital property records and loopholes in verifying surety documents submitted to courts.

Police suspect that more people, including others who posed as fake sureties, may be linked to the racket.

The Halasuru Gate Police are continuing their investigation to identify further beneficiaries and trace the source of

forged documents.