Bengaluru: Central Crime Branch sleuths busted a fake academic certificate racket, which had branches across the country and 180 agents working for the masterminds in New Delhi. Three of the five accused are from Bengaluru, while the other two are from New Delhi and Ghaziabad.
The police arrested five accused, including the mastermind Sandesh Agarwal, a law graduate, from New Delhi for issuing fake marks cards and degree certificates, including that of MBBS, of 38 reputed universities. The other four are Deepankar Sen, an employee of a private institution in Bengaluru, Kunal Kumar Mondal of Joinus for Education, Bengaluru, Aruna of Fortune Institute (agent), Bengaluru, and Saurabh Kumar Sharma of RPS School in Ghaziabad.
The police said that the gang had issued over 1.6 lakh fake certificates, helping unscrupulous elements land jobs. From the office of the accused, the police seized 1,600 fake marks cards and degree certificates, of which 737 were ready to be dispatched, 836 certificate templates, rubber stamps, holograms, mobile phones and computer and printer. The racket was being operated for the last four years. The gang charged Rs 1 lakh for a master’s certificate and Rs 30,000-50,000 for an undergraduate certificate. The amount was decided after the client chose the marks and university.
“Just tell them the degree you want, the marks on it and the name of the university, you would get the marks card or the degree certificate that looked exactly like the original. It was nearly impossible to make out these fakes,” a police officer said.
Besides MBBS and Ph.D degrees, the gang has also issued master’s certificates, including MBA, MSc, M.Tech and MA, and undergraduate certificates for BSc, BCom, BCA and BE.
Their target was Allahabad University, Dr. MJR Medical University, Karnataka State Open University, Jammu and Kashmir State Board, National Institute of Rural Open Schooling, Sambalpur University, Andhra Pradesh Board of Secondary Education, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Dr C.V. Raman University, etc.
How the kingpins were arrested
The CCB sleuths got the lead on the kingpins of the racket in New Delhi, Ghaziabad and Bengaluru when they arrested Kunal Kumar Mondal in second week of April. Mondal, who had an office at Manipal Centre, told the police about the kingpin in Bengaluru, Deepankar, and others. Deepankar, who was arrested from his Hebbal office, confessed to the police that the main members of the gang were from Delhi.
The police formed a special team, which raided offices of Sandesh Agarwal and Saurabh Kumar Sharma in New Delhi and Ghaziabad arresting them. The police seized a BMW and an Audi car from them.
The police said that the kingpins had all the information about the 38 universities that they were targeting. “They were aware of all the signing authorities in the universities as a number of specimen signatures and rubber stamps of current officers were recovered. The accused updated themselves about the change of authorities and made the stamps,” the police said.
The gang, posing as education consultants, advertised on social media offering admissions in reputed institutions. Once a client approached them, he/she would be referred to a local agent, who then gave them the pricelist of marks cards and certificates. The clients were asked to deposit money in a bank account and certificates were issued. The gang members in Bengaluru sent emails from jaincollegeju@gmail.com, krupanidhitu@gmail.com, ramaiahinstitute@gmail.com to name a few. The police have recovered over 15,000 email conversations
