Bengaluru: They offered fake degrees, even PhDs for a price

Bengaluru: Two people, who were running a racket of fake marks cards and degree certificates of reputed schools, colleges and universities across the country, have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB).

The CCB officials have recovered over 1,500 fake marks cards and degree certificates, a computer, printers and even seals of various universities from them for further investigations.

The sleuths of CCB picked up the accused Srinivas Reddy and his assistant Sunil Kumar, from Mahalakshmi Layout from where they were running the racket through Venkateshwara Institute of Educational Society.

The accused claimed they had affiliation with reputed schools, colleges and universities and offered fake marks cards and undergraduate and postgraduate degree certificates to those opting distance courses. 

They even issued fake Ph.D certificates to the candidates, the police said. When the candidate would approach them for distance courses, the accused explained their offers and prices. “Candidates were asked to choose schools, colleges and universities from where they wanted the marks cards and degree certificates. 

The prices were set depending on the chosen institution, which was between Rs 30,000 and Rs 2 lakh,” the police added.The accused would issue the candidates with marks cards to the candidates without conducting exams and classes. 

The police said the accused confessed they were running the racket for the past several years and even got arrested twice by city police. However after obtaining bail, the accused would continue with their activities offering degree certificates to the candidates mostly from neighbouring states, the police added. The police suspect thousands of candidates got certificates from the accused and have taken up jobs in many companies.