SSLC, PU marks cards available for Rs 15 thousand

SHIVAMOGGA: Police have unearthed a scam where SSLC and PU fake marks cards are sold for hefty sums to help failed students. The cards are allegedly issued by the Maharashtra Secondary Examination Board.
Three months of intensive investigations across Pune, Hubballi, Bengaluru and may areas in North Karnataka led to the arrest of eight persons, including three young educated men who are behind the scam.They have been operating in Karnataka for three years, in collusion with educational institutions which offer distance courses.
Shivamogga SP Abhinav Khare said the case was unearthed after a letter written by the passport authorities of Mangaluru set off investigation into a suspected fake marks card, which led to the scam.
Tousif Pasha of Sorab, a tailor who wanted to go to Saudi Arabia to work, applied for a passport at Mangaluru three months ago along with his Class 7 marks card. Authorities rejected his application, stating that the mini mum qualification for a passport was SSLC.
Pasha approached Hanumanthappa, a government school teacher working at a Sorab school for help. Hanumanthappa gave him a firstclass pass SSLC certificate issued by the Maharashtra Secondary Examination Board (MSEB) for Rs 15,000.
After a month, Pasha resubmitted his passport application with the SSLC certificate. Mangalore passport authorities recalled Sorab's earlier application, and referred the case to Shivamogga police for investigation.
Police interrogated Pasha who led them to Hanumanthappa, who revealed the scam procedure. According to police, the main culprits were Praveen Patil from Hubballi, 30, an MBA rank student, and his two relatives from Pune, Vivek Dinakar and Vishal Dinakar, both 30, and MCA rank students. They had technical knowledge in preparing marks cards and selling them through agents, mainly in Bengaluru and North Karnataka.
Police arrested Pasha, Hanumanthappa and the trio, besides three persons from Ben galuru, Sagar, Ravikumar and R Gopalakrishna, who charged Rs 15,000-20,000 for a marks card.
Investigation led to the identification of institutions selling the fake marks cards for failed students who had registered for distance education programmes to improve their educational standards.So far, nine institutions have been identified and cases booked against them.
Elite Academy , Grotech Education Trust, Om Sai Distance Education Trust, SLV Distance Education Trust and Kalapavruksha Education Trust, Hesaraghatta (all from Bengaluru), Sri Shayla Mallikarjuna Education Trust (Ballari), MRK Rathod Education Trust (Muddebihal) and Nandini Computer Education Centre (Humnabad) are the institutions allegedly involved in the scam.