THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cybercrime police have arrested the ringleader of a racket engaged in the sale of fake course certificates after setting up bogus websites of Kerala Pareeksha Bhavan and 40 universities across the country. Accused Avinash Roy, 23, from Delhi, was arrested from Noida on Friday. The Cyber police have been pursuing the accused after the Pareeksha Bhavan secretary lodged a complaint with the City police commissioner in this regard.
A special team led by DySP Syamlal was formed to crack the case. Following this, Cyber police officials hacked into the fake websites set up by the accused and unveiled his identity after tracking his digital footprints for the last one year.
The police said Roy sold certificates of about 40 universities situated in 22 states. The arrest was made after the cops conducted an extensive search across several states including Delhi, Punjab and Haryana in the last 15 days. A police source said Roy had created course certificates of Kerala Pareeksha Bhavan, Kerala Higher Secondary Directorate, Cochin University, Delhi University, Mizoram University and Kashmir University among others. These were distributed to clients after charging a hefty amount.
The electronic gadgets used to set up the websites and issue the certificates were seized from the accused.
The arrest was made by a police team comprising Inspector Siju K L Nair, sub-inspector Biju Radhakrishnan and CPOs Samir Khan and Vineesh V S. More members of the racket, including a Bihar native, who secured admission to Delhi University using a fake certificate issued in the name of a Kottarakkara-based school, are expected to be arrested in the coming days.