The Mangaluru police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a racket in creation of fake SSLC, pre-university, diploma and engineering degree certificates to get jobs and also go abroad. These certificates were being issued from an institute near Pumpwell Junction.
The police have arrested Askan Sheikh (22), who runs Mangalore Institute of Management and Engineering, and Gautam R. (32), a resident of Kulur, in this connection.
Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar told reporters here that the Central Crime Branch police were tipped off about the sale of fake certificates at the institute. “
When our team investigated, we found this to be a big racket that involves people from different parts of the country,” he said.
Mr. Sekhar said that Sheikh has been issuing fake certificates since 2015.
The accused started with SSLC and pre-university certificates. Then they issued diploma, engineering and MBA course certificates. So far, they have issued nearly 150 fake certificates. They were creating SSLC and pre-university certificates for Rs. 10,000, while degree and diploma certificates were offered for Rs. 35,000. Fake MBA certificates were being offered for Rs. 45,000. “They offered to issue fake certificate for any degree courses,” he said.
The CCB team also carried out raids simultaneously at the institute and two other places and seized the hard disc and other material used in making fake certificates. Mr. Sekhar said that the accused have created fake certificates of nearly 11 institutions, including the Visvesvaraya Technological University and the Karnataka State Open University. They have issued certificates related to institutions in Agra, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Assam and Bengaluru.
Mr. Sekhar said that the accused admitted that candidates who obtained such fake certificates from them used the documents for getting jobs abroad. The police have launched a search for the aides of the accused in different parts of the country. They are also looking at the alleged involvement of travel agents.
