Fake marks card network exposed by CCB cops

Bengaluru: The CCB police has busted a network that was selling fake mark cards from SSLC to PhD for lakhs of money. The fake mark card distribution business was going on in the name of Shri Venkateswara Institute, which was operating at Mahalakshmi Layout, Marathahalli, Kodihalli in the city. The police raided these three offices and seized more than a thousand mark sheets of other state educational institutions including Karnataka Open University, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and other documents and Rs 1 lakh cash has been confiscated.

Rajanna, Kishore, Sharada and Shilpa, who were involved in the fake marksheet network, were arrested and taken to police custody for 14 days for further investigation. Network kingpin G Srinivasa Reddy is absconding and the search is on to arrest him.

Andhra-based Srinivasa Reddy heads the network and is the chairman of the Venkateswara Institute. He is the mastermind behind the fake marks card network. He was arrested by CCB police in 2018. After getting bail and coming out of jail, he again set up offices in different places and ran the business. The arrested accused Shilpa was the director of the organization. Kishore was working in Sharada's organization. A senior officer said that Rajanna used to print fake mark cards.

The team, which was advertising online for conducting distance education courses and providing marks card, was charging money from those who came seeking mark cards and giving them fake mark cards of various universities. This business has been going on for a few years and for SSLC, PUC, Graduation, Post Graduation, Engineering, MBA mark cards, they were getting Rs 40,000 to Rs 1 Lakh. City Police Commissioner CH Pratap Reddy said in a press conference on Wednesday that the investigation has revealed that they were selling certificates for Ph.D degree for Rs 10 to 20 lakh.

A few days ago, a young man visited the Mahalakshmi Layout office after getting information about the distance education degree on the website. At this time, the staff there told that they will give the degree certificate for Rs 40,000 rupees. So, he had paid Rs 40,000 and had come back. A few days after this, he sent two mark sheets of the graduation course on his WhatsApp and again demanded money to send the third mark sheet. Suspecting that the mark sheet was given without writing the exam, the young man filed a complaint at the cyber station. The officer explained that during the investigation into this case, a network of fake marks sheet was exposed.

An official said that 1097 records, five hard disks and eight mobiles including mark sheets of the names of Learning in Management University, EIILM University, VS Prasanna Bharati University of Haryana, IEC University of Himachal Pradesh and other universities have been seized.