A resident of Sulongiri in New Town was arrested on Thursday night for allegedly being part of a gang that makes fake voter’s identity cards.

Eleven fake voter’s identity cards and several forged documents were found on Akhil Baidya, the arrested youth. Police suspect nearly 100 fake voter’s cards have been circulated by the gang.

Investigators said each applicant used to pay the gang Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 to avoid the hassle of and delay in getting a voter’s card. The gang used original voter’s card numbers on the fake cards, according to cops.

“They would pick up a voter’s card number from the website of the state election commission. They would then make a fake card using a valid number with the details of the person who had paid them,” said a police officer.

As the electoral roll revision started on July 9 and was extended till July 30, it was easy for the gang to catch applicants.

The racket came to light after the block development officer (BDO) of Bongaon lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday after he found fake documents submitted by two members of a family for getting their names enlisted in electoral roll.

The duo, who were rounded up by the police, said during interrogation that they prepared the fake documents from Baidya.

Based on the information police arrested Baidya.

Police said the gang used to operate around the block development offices and centres where the electoral roll revision process was underway.

“Applicants who were ready to pay between Rs 2000 and Rs 5000 could easily procure fake EPI cards through the gang within a week,” said the police official.

Cops feel that Baidya is part of a larger racket. “There are several other persons involved in this inter-district racket of forging EPI cards,” said Mehboob Akhter, sub divisional police officer of Barasat.

Preliminary investigations suggest that a gang forging EPI cards is active in the border areas of North-24 Parganas, Nadia, Malda and Murshidabad.

Baidya owns an agency that provides domestic helps and security personnel to commercial and residential households.