VARANASI, Nov. 14 -- In a sweeping crackdown that ripped open the underbelly of Azamgarh's bail network, police on Thursday arrested 41 fake guarantors and 10 hardened criminals under Operation Shikanja - a high-voltage drive aimed at choking the nexus between habitual offenders and their shadowy enablers. What began as a routine probe soon snowballed into the unmasking of a well-oiled "bail mafia", where so-called professional sureties repeatedly helped criminals slip out of jail - often for a price as low as Rs2,000 to Rs3,000. Senior superintendent of police, Azamgarh, Anil Kumar said that Operation Shikanja was launched in the district after it came to light that after being released on bail, several accused were found involved in crime again. Investigations revealed that many of the accused had repeatedly obtained fake bail using the same surety or property. Some lawyers got bail processed using professional sureties for a fee of Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000. In several cases, it was also found that the lawyers kept all the documents, identity cards, etc. of the professional sureties with themselves and continued to use them.They secured bail for several accused using the same land records. The affidavit attached to the bail form also concealed the facts of previous bails secured by them. In the meantime, on October 12, a complaint was filed by in-charge Kotwali Nagar police station, Yadavendra Pandey, that in order to obtain bail for the criminals of the district, the guarantors (sureties) have taken bail for several accused using the same documents as surety, misleading the Court and have not made any mention of the bails obtained earlier. Also, forged documents have been used in obtaining bail. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under sections 319(2), 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 61(2), and 111 BNS against a total of 99 accused (50 sureties and 49 accused). Crime branch inspector-in-charge, Sudesh Kumar Singh, was instructed to investigate the matter. The police teams raided various locations and arrested 41 fake guarantors and 10 criminals wanted in different cases, said police and added that during interrogation, the accused confessed that they were appearing as guarantors to get bail for the accused for the sake of money. They did not even know the names or addresses of the individuals whose bail they secured. They secured bail for multiple accused using the same land records. They were produced before the court from where they were sent to jail, said the officer....