NEW DELHI: After Pakistan’s Axact degree scandal that made headlinesinternationally over the fake degree selling across the world, now asimilar racket has been unearthed in India.
Indian fake degree racket has reportedly sold over 50,000 fake degrees inlast few years.
Indian Police have busted a pan-India fake degree racket operating througha city “education society”, with regional offices and over 40 agents inother parts of the country, which had allegedly sold more than 50,000 forgedmarksheets link> andcertificates of universities and school boardslink>, Times of India hasreported.
The racket was busted after police arrested three people on a complaint. Itfound that the gang even advertised its services besides running fakewebsites of over 30 education boards. Links to these websites, whichappeared just like the real ones, were given to clients for verifying the’authenticity’ of their documents.
Police said several thousand people had got jobs in the government andprivate sectors on the basis of the forged certificates. The three arrestedaccused were identified as Pankaj Arora, 35, Pawiter Singh, 40, and GopalKrishan, 40.
DCP (west) Vijay Kumar said police stumbled upon the racket after when aman approached the Hari Nagar cops with a complaint of having received afake Class 10 certificate and related documents.
[image: Gang]
The complainant said he had approached Arora after seeing an advertisementin a Rajasthan newspaper which stated that he could get certificates andmarksheets after paying a particular amount.
The man told the cops that he and his friends were under the impressionthat they would have to sit for an exam before getting the certificates,for which Arora had asked for Rs 1,31,000. Instead, the complainant and hisfriends received the Class 10 marksheets, migration certificates and transfercertificates link> ofthe Andhra Pradesh board through post.
Baffled, the man asked Arora how he could have scored the marks withoutappearing for any exam. Arora told him everything had been arranged for andthere was nothing to worry about, the man said in his complaint.
The victim then checked the fake website and saw similar certificatesthere. Believing it to be genuine, he applied for a passport in Sikar,Rajasthan, where he was told that the certificate was fake. He then filed apolice complaint.
Police said the gang had deployed more than 40 agents across India to trappeople and get them enrolled in ‘SRKM Education and Welfare Society.’
The gang sold forged marksheets and degrees of renowned universities andschool boards for anything between Rs 10,000 to several lakhs. Cops havelaunched a manhunt for three more people who are absconding.
“A team led by Vijender Singh, SHO Hari Nagar was formed and investigationsin the case were taken up,” said DCP Kumar.