Hyderabad: Fake education certificate racket busted, 4 arrested

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Commissioner's Task Force, South Zone team along with the Nampally Police on Thursday apprehended four persons for providing fake educational certificates to needy aspirants and collecting huge amounts from them in the name of studying abroad.

The arrested persons were Mohd Ehteshamuddin Hussain (47), Mohd Abdul Khader (42), Mohd Altaf Ahmed (42), Mohd Imran (41), and two other accused are absconding. The accused Hussain, who was providing fake educational certificates, was running a Study Affairs International Pvt Ltd consultancy while Khadar was an employee in the same office. The police said that Imran was running a Mee Seva centre at Amberpet named Veera City Services. The three accused met with Altaf, owner of Carrier wing consultancy, at Himayat Nagar, and formed a gang.

"The accused hatched a plan to provide fake educational certificates to needy students who want to go abroad for further studies or employment. When customers approached them, they directed them to Hussain for further processing. That is when Hussain would brief and collect relevant documents and fees as prescribed by them," said M Rajesh Chandra, DCP central zone.

"Once the process was done, Hussain would contact the other gang members and send details of the customers. Then they would prepare fake educational certificates from various universities and boards based on the study track of the customers. They also provided a facility of online checks for a limited period by charging them additionally," he added.

The police seized fake Intermediate and Degree certificates from different universities and boards including (20) certificates from the State Board of School Examination (SEC) and Board of Higher Secondary Examinations Tamil Nadu, (33) Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, (10) Thiruvalluvar University, Tamil Nadu, (15) Sathyabama University, Tamil Nadu, (9) CH. Charan Singh University, Meerut, (3) MH State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Pune, (10) Periyar University, Salem, (28) Shivaji University, Kolhapur, (5) Sikkim State University, (10) Bundelkhand University, Jhansi and one from National Institute of Open Schooling, Andhra Pradesh, National Institute of Open Schooling, Telangana and National Institute of Open Schooling, Gujarat The police also seized four cell phones, one computer system, one color printer, six color fillers, and Rs 22,000 cash.

The police registered cases against the accused under section 420, 467, 468, 120(B) IPC of Nampally and Santosh Nagar police stations and the investigation is on.