Mumbai, Feb 22 (NIE): A man has been arrested in Powai for allegedly helping people apply for Aadhaar cards and make corrections in PAN cards using forged documents and stamps.

On Tuesday, the Powai police raided a shop owned by Fayyaz Ansari, an authorised PAN card agent in Milind Nagar, after receiving information that he was committing forgery.

Ansari was arrested and stamps bearing the seals of the local tehsildar office, the income tax office, various private enterprises and local Congress MLA Arif Naseem Khan, along with affidavits addressed to the PAN card office for correction of personal details, were recovered from his shop. The police also found details of 41 residents of Powai who allegedly availed Ansari’s services.

Senior Inspector Anil Pophale of Powai police said: “Making corrections in PAN cards require furnishing affidavits and signatures of the local political representative and tehsildar office. Ansari would prepare these documents using forged stamps and submit applications to the PAN card office seeking changes in name, address and date of birth of various applicants.”

Similarly, Ansari allegedly prepared application forms for new Aadhaar cards. “The accused put forged seals on these forms and submitted them to the local Aadhaar office. He was paid between Rs 400 to Rs 500 for each form,” said Pophale.

The police are investigating how many Aadhaar and PAN cards Ansari had managed to obtain using forged documents. He has been booked on charges of committing cheating and forgery under the IPC. Pophale said that Ansari was produced in court on Wednesday and remanded to police custody till February 21.