5 MBBS students arrested for producing fake certificates

KURNOOL: The district police on Monday arrested five medical students and launched a hunt for another for allegedly obtaining admission to medical colleges by producing fake caste and income certificates during counselling for the 2015-16 academic year. Two others who helped them get the certificates were also arrested.
Disclosing the details of the fraud, Kurnool police superintendent R K Ravikrishna said that six persons from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh obtained fake caste, income, residence and transfer certificates from the Kallur tehsildar's office via Mee Seva centres with the help of two middlemen, Shaik Shameer of Kurnool and T Srinivas Reddy of Anantapur.
Ravikrishna said that Shameer and Srinivas procured the details of OC students who secured ranks between 2000-10,000 but did not get admission in any medical college through counseling. They later zeroed in on the six candidates among them and promised them admissions at low donations. After selecting the six candidates, the duo collected Rs 3 to 5 lakh from each student for providing fake caste certificate under BC-A and BC-D categories. The duo also provided income, residence and transfer certificates to the students by utilizing Mee Seva services. After acquiring the fake documents, Shameer and Srinivas sent the students for medical counselling under reservation category and successfully secured them MBBS seats at NTR Health University, Vijayawada. When applications for one of the caste certificates was rejected at the Mee Seva centre, the duo fabricated it themselves. Upon receiving a complaint from the Kallur tehsildar, who found inconsistencies in the documentation when they came up for verification, the district police constituted special teams and arrested all the accused on Monday.
The arrested students have been identified as G Prathima of Ongole, L Nikhila Reddy of Mahbubnagar, V Lavanya Devi of Kakinada, K C Bhavana Reddy and Abram Alikhan. The sixth accused, V Lavanya Reddy, and her parents are absconding. Police also arrested the parents of the other five students for assisting them.