SOG arrests one more in fake Taekwondo certificate racket

Jaipur: Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police Friday arrested a 36-year-old man in connection with the fake Taekwondo sports certificate racket linked to the Grade III Teacher Recruitment Examination-2022.

The accused was arrested from Barmer for allegedly using forged sports credentials to secure selection under the sports quota.

Police have identified the accused as Bhabhutaram alias Ranjeet and a resident of Lachhiye Ka Tala village under Dhanau police station limits in Barmer district.

According to the SOG, he allegedly struck a deal worth around Rs 1 lakh through middleman Satish Dool to obtain a fake Taekwondo certificate and gain selection in the recruitment process.

Additional director general of police (SOG) Vishal Bansal said the accused was produced before a court Thursday and remanded to police custody till May 30.

Investigators alleged that Bhabhutaram paid Rs 15,000 about three years ago to procure the forged certificate and later submitted it before the selection committee to obtain a govt job.

The investigation has found that 38 candidates included in the merit list of the Teacher Recruitment Examination-2022 had submitted forged certificates claiming participation in national-level Taekwondo competitions. The recruitment process had reserved 2% of posts under the sports quota.

According to the probe, a fake email ID resembling that of the Taekwondo Federation of India in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, was created and used to send forged verification reports to the Directorate of Elementary Education, Bikaner, to authenticate the fake certificates.

An FIR has been registered at the SOG police station under sections related to cheating, forgery and provisions of the Information Technology Act. Further investigation is underway.

Bansal said Bhabhutaram was already in judicial custody in another case. He is also accused of arranging a dummy candidate to appear in place of his younger brother, Mukesh Kumar, in the PTI Recruitment Examination-2022. The SOG has registered a separate case in that matter.

Of the 38 candidates named in the case, 21 have been arrested so far. Those arrested also include alleged mastermind Bimlendu Kumar Jha, who is accused of creating the fake email ID, middleman Kamal Singh and others allegedly involved in supplying forged sports certificates. A total of 28 people have been arrested in the case, while efforts are continuing to trace the remaining accused and middlemen.