Bengaluru CCB cracks national-level network offering fake certificates; arrests five

Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in the state capital arrested five for offering and distributing fake marks cards and degree certificates to students in the country.

Prime accused, Sandesh Agarwal sold fake certificates of 38 Universities, CBSE, Public Education Departments of various states and other well-known educational institutions through his ‘educational consultancy’ located in New Delhi and his 180 agents spread across the country.

It is learnt that the accused had been running the racket for the past five years and had distributed 1.60 lakh fake certificates so far.

The arrested were identified as Kunal Kumar Mandal (32), Deepankar Sen (28) and Aruna (32); all of them employed in private educational institutions in Bengaluru. Souvrav Kumar Sharma (31) from Uttar Pradesh and Sandesh Agarawal (34) from New Delhi were also among those arrested. The police are working to nab another accused, Koushal Kumar.

The accused charged Rs 50,000 for a degree certificate while MBBS, M-Tech and other degree certificates were charged Rs 1 lakh.

The gang used social media and internet as a tool to expand their business. According to sources, as many as 400 students from Karnataka alone received fake certificates from them.