Two nabbed for selling fake degrees

NEW DELHI: The special cell of Delhi Police has arrested two men for allegedly selling fake higher education degrees. Accused K K Praveen was arrested in Mayur Vihar Phase-III on June 22 and several forged degrees and certificates of various universities and educational boards, including the marksheets, computers, scanner and printers, were seized from him.
During interrogation, Praveen disclosed name of one Rameshwar Singh, who was later arrested from Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad.
“The seized fake degrees are of MBA, BTech, BBA, BCA, BSc, BA & DPharma and disaster management. The accused used to sell the degrees for Rs 10,000 to 15,000 each,” said a senior police officer.
Rameshwar told police that he studied up to class X and started working as an auto driver. “In 1997, his brother-in-law, who is working in the ministry of human resources and development, attached his auto with the ministry. Since many people visit the ministry for verification of original certificates, he started working as a tout,” said the officer.
Rameshwar then started making forged degrees and certificates along with essential papers required for visa. Praveen met Rameshwar in February 2010.
“Those who wanted to go abroad used to contact the accused through touts. The two then used to put forged stamps on the papers and degrees thereby facilitating the degree holders get jobs abroad. These degrees help people without qualification to apply for jobs in private firms where no verification of educational qualifications is undertaken. For obtaining jobs in institutions/government bodies all degrees are subject to verification and the papers are sent to the concerned universities for the same. This racket was running since the last one-and-a-half year,” said the officer.