HYDERABAD: In a joint operation, sleuths with the North Zone Task Force, Asifnagar and Malakpet police, on Tuesday, busted fake certificate rackets being carried out by two consultancy firms. A total of 10 persons, comprising two firm owners, an assistant professor from Madhya Pradesh and seven students, were arrested in two separate cases.
Hyderabad City Commissioner of Police (CP) CV Anand said, “Discrepancies were initially found during the visa verification of those with fake certificates and a couple of complaints were lodged in respective police stations. After that, teams swung into action and arrested the accused.”He said there are additional five to seven consultancy firms that sell forged certificates.
“In these cases, no one is gullible, neither the consultants nor the students or their parents. Students in the case are taken into custody. The investigation will be focused on detecting the number of students the certificates were sold to and even their parents will be taken into custody this time.” The CP said that only stringent action will keep such crimes in control, be it the fake certificates racket or the drugs-related cases, and added that everyone connected with the offence will be taken into custody.
In collusion with an MP-based varsity
The consultancy firms were being assisted by an Assistant Professor of SRK (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University (SRKU), Bhopal. The police suspect that SRKU’s chairman might also be involved in the racket and are probing into it.
“Malakpet police arrested Ketan Singh, an Assistant Professor of SRKU University, Ancha Srikanth Reddy who is running Sri Sai Educational Consultancy at Salem Nagar. SRKU, in order to make illegal money, colluded with two consultancies in Hyderabad and supplied fake certificates to the accused, who then sold them to the students without any exams or attendance. In another similar arrest, Task Force sleuths and Asifnagar police arrested one more person. The main accused in this case is Gunti Maheshwar Rao running Pride Educational Academy at Kukatpally, who colluded with the SRKU management. He provided students with the fake certificates too,” Anand said.
Among the arrested by Malakpet police are seven students — Dumpally Shashank, Aluka Nishanth Reddy, Kodali Sai Krishna, Veltoor Vinay Kumar, Baddam Anurag Reddy, Srigiri Yoganand Reddy and Mohammad Althashmuddin. More than 45 fake certificates were seized, while the police suspect that 700 such certificates are in circulation.
Taking note of this, Telangana State Council of Higher Education Chairman R Limbadri said, “With the shift to technology, it will help cut down the fake certificates rackets in the city. DigiLocker will keep the certificates safe and no such crimes can arise in this advanced world. The State will also come up with one such verified platform and no such fake rackets will be seen in existence.”
Racket discovered during visa checks
The police discovered the racket when the visa verification of those holding the forged certificates were being carried out. Complaints were lodged across different police stations after which teams swung into action and nabbed the accused.