The Pune city police Wednesday said they have busted a racket that issued fake Class X certificates in return for money. The accused were allegedly issuing certificates in the name of one тАШMaharashtra State Open SchoolтАЩ.
Till now, four persons have been arrested in the case. The police said the racket issued such fraudulent certificates to at least 35 persons.
The police said they received an input in February, that a man identified as Sandeep Kamble from Sangli was selling fake Class X certificates. The police then sent an undercover agent to Kamble. The suspect told him he would charge Rs 60,000 for a certificate.
On February 9, Kamble received Rs 39,000 from the agent in an online transfer. On April 10, he took Rs 16,000 in cash from the тАШbuyerтАЩ during a meeting in the Swargate area, and Kamble sent the buyer a soft copy of a fake certificate on April 25. On April 30, Kamble was caught red-handed while handing over the certificate to the undercover agent, said an investigating officer.
During the investigation, Kamble said he got the fake certificates from suspects based in Aurangabad and Osmanabad. On Tuesday, the police arrested Krushna Sonaji Giri, Altaf Shaikh, and Sayyed Imran Sayyed Ibrahim, taking the number of arrests in the case to four.
ACP Narayan Shirgaonkar said, тАЬThe probe suggests that the suspects have till now given 10th-pass certificates to at least 35 people in this manner. We are probing how the accused distributed the certificates of the entity named Maharashtra State Open School. We are also investigating whether the website of this entity is genuine or not.тАЭ
The website of the Maharashtra State Open School says that the entity is registered at an address in the Chikalthana area of Aurangabad. The тАШabout usтАЩ page of the website says the тАЬMaharashtra State Open School is a brand of MSO School Foundation, an autonomous body constituted to regulate academic courses, computer education.тАЭ
Anuradha Oak, secretary, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), said the Maharashtra State Open School was not linked to the board. She added that further comment can be made only after investigating the matter.
