Hyderabad: In a joint operation, the sleuths of the Special Operations Team (SOT), LB Nagar Zone, along with Chaitanyapuri police, on Tuesday, arrested seven persons involved in selling and buying of fake educational certificates. The certificates were sold to those requiring them by collecting huge amount of money.
The accused were arrested at Lakshmi Nagar Colony in Chaitanyapuri. During interrogation, they confessed that they had sold more than 100 fake educational certificates of various universities to the aspirants seeking jobs and planning to pursue higher studies in foreign countries.
The prime accused, Chinthakayala Venkateswarlu, who worked as a correspondent at Vignan Junior College and Bajaj Degree College, procured fake certificates from other accused -- Akula Ravi, Avinash alias Ajay, who had been supplying fake certificates of various universities to the aspirants for Rs 3.5 lakh each.
Avinash motivated Venkateswarlu to join him as he can make a lot of money in a short time by selling fake certificates to dropouts, D.S. Chauhan, Rachakonda police commissioner, told the reporters.
During interrogation, Avinash confessed that he also hosted a fake website, the link of which he provided the aspirants for confirming their names. Both the accused have sold fake certificates of engineering and Intermediate courses to the aspirants intending to go to foreign countries for further studies and jobs, Chauhan said.
Akula Ravi and Avinash were earlier arrested thrice in similar cases by the Warangal district police.
One of Venkateswarlu’s customers included Peddukotla Abhilash Kumar, who had joined B. Tech (CSE) course in Sphoorthy Engineering College, Nadergul, Meerpet (2015-2016) and discontinued. Later, he joined Aurobindo Degree College, Kothapet, to pursue B.Sc,(Computers). Despite having 15 backlogs, he wanted to go abroad and do a job there. However, due to non-completion of his B.Tech degree, he could not go abroad. In 2022, he came in contact with Venkateswarlu, who had sold him a fake B.Tech (CSE) certificate for Rs. 3.5 lakh.
Likewise, Venkateswarlu provided fake certificates directly to some aspirants and also appointed agents to get him more customers. Jyothi Reddy and Naveen, both natives of Visakhapatnam, acted as Venkateswarlu’s agents and sold fake certificates to Vishali, Abhilash Kumar, B. Kalyan and S. Vijay Kumar.
All those involved in the selling and buying of fake certificates have been arrested, the police said.
