CHENNAI: A student’s forged transfer certificate led the Ennore police to a decade-old forgery racket allegedly involved in creating fake government seals, educational certificates and counterfeit currency. The police have arrested six persons on Monday in this connection, and are are now trying to identify and trace customers who allegedly obtained forged certificates from the gang.
The racket came to light during an inquiry into a gold-related case last week. While investigating the case near a drill machine rental outlet, a police officer noticed a student holding a transfer certificate inside a shop where several seals lay on a table. The student was allegedly a customer. The police obtained the certificate for verification and found it to be forged.
A search on the premises in Ambedkar Nagar, Wimco Nagar, led to the seizure of more than 100 seals purportedly belonging to tahsildars and various government departments. The police also seized forged medical and college certificates, transfer certificates, documents establishing medical qualifications, Emirates passports, suspected counterfeit Rs 500 notes, Rs 1 coins and equipment allegedly used to produce the forged materials.
The seals include those of government officials such as tahsildars and deputy tahsildars, Minjur Town Panchayat, educational institutions including Madras University and SRM University, schools, engineering colleges, the Consulate General of India in New York, a Saudi Arabian diplomatic office, Ashok Leyland, stamp vendors and private engineering firms. The collection also contains specimen signatures and date seals.
The arrested men have been identified as Karunakaran (59), Stephen alias Jayakumar (34), Johnson (45), Victor (42), Karunanidhi (60) and Sathyamurthy (60), all residents of the Ennore Eraneeswarar Temple area.
The main suspect, Jayakumar alias Stephen (38), son of Selvaraj, was apprehended by a special police team near the Wimco Nagar Metro Rail Depot bus stop. He was allegedly running an establishment named Jeya Engineering Works at No. 66, Ambedkar Nagar, Fourth Street, Ernavur, Chennai-57, where the police found rubber stamps purportedly belonging to government and private offices, school and college certificates, fake bank cheques and papers used to prepare forged documents. The release also names his associates as Karunakaran, Sathiyamoorthy, Karunanidhi, Victor and Johnson, who were arrested and produced before a magistrate on October 12, 2026.
The police sources said the gang had divided responsibilities among its members. Karunakaran allegedly coordinated the operation, Stephen handled counterfeit currency production, Johnson and his brother Victor prepared forged certificates, while Karunanidhi and Sathyamurthy dealt with customers. The gang allegedly charged at least Rs 2,000 for its services and relied on word-of-mouth referrals to attract customers. Police sources said the operation had allegedly been led by Jacob, a retired government school headmaster who died a year ago. Some of the accused had also faced forgery cases in 2017, they said.
