CHENNAI: The Entrustment Document Fraud (EDF) wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) has arrested four persons for allegedly running a fake certificate racket and also a fake institute under the name ‘Indian Institute of Integrated Science & Technology and Research’ in Villivakkam. While two of them were arrested in Andhra Pradesh, two were arrested in Villivakkam. After an inquiry, they were remanded in judicial custody on Saturday.
Police seized four CPUs, two monitors, two laptops, two tabs, eight mobile phones, a colour printer and at least 500 fake educational documents bearing the name of other fake educational institutions. The issue came to light when a student from Telangana submitted his documents to the US Consulate for Visa process. When it was found that the documents were fake, the security officer at the Consulate lodged a police complaint.
Based on the complaint, the police interrogated the Telangana student and got information about the racket. They then arrested Rusheekesh Reddy (33), Dhivakar Reddy (32), Mohammad Riyaz (30) and Mageshwaran (42). Inquiries revealed that the group has been issuing fake certificates since 2019.