The Patiala police today arrested two persons for preparing fake voter I-cards and recovered some such cards from their possession. The internet cafe they were allegedly running the racket from — Noor Cyber Cafe — has also been sealed. The two arrested have been identified as Pankaj Kumar and Jaspreet Singh, both residents of Rajpura. They are well-educated, one of them being a mechanical engineer.

According to CIA incharge Bikramjit Brar, the police got secret information about the racket and raided the cafe.

Patiala SSP Arpit Shukla said the police are still to ascertain how many such cards have been prepared and circulated. “The accused have said they have issued only 12 such cards and charged Rs 1,000 per card, which were used by the buyers to open bank accounts and other such purposes,” he said.

Sources said the cards have holograms exactly similar to the original ones, and they could even be original.

“It is very difficult to differentiate the fake cards from the original ones. We are probing how they procured the holograms of the Election Commission of India.”

CIA incharge Brar added, “We are also probing whether officials of the Election Commission of India are also involved and how far the nexus is spread,”

A senior police officer told The Indian Express that the role of certain politicians is also under the scanner.

Sources said the accused prepared cards that showed they were issued in 2006, which could mean they have been in the illegal trade from the past many years.