Acting on a tip-off, the city police on Sunday arrested five people for allegedly printing and selling fake certificates and marksheets for Classes VIII and X of the Punjab State Education Board. With the arrests, the police claim to have busted a gang that sold fake certificates. Among the five held on Sunday are two superintendents with the education board and another individual, who runs a tea stall just out the board’s head office in Mohali.
Those arrested have been identified as Kishan Gopa, a resident of Ludhiana, Deepak Sachdeva a resident of Zirakpur, Surjit Singh and Karnail Singh, both residents of Mohali and superintendents with PSEB and Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Mohali. Apart from some 300 fake certificates the police has also confiscated the scanner, computer and the printer allegedly used by the gang.
diploma fraud
ACP Gurpreet Singh SAID: “We had secret information that there was a gang operating in the city so we set up a trap. Deepak was the first arrest we made and he led us to the others. During interrogation, the accused told us that they charge Rs 45,000 for these certificates and had been active for two years now”.
According to the police, the gang’s modus operandi involved Surjit Singh and Karnail Singh smuggling original marksheets and certificates of the board, which were then scanned and printed by Sanjeev Kumar alias Bittu.
“Marks were then added and certificates signed and sold to people who wanted them. Involvement of other officials of the board in this scam or whether these certificates have been used in securing jobs is under investigations,” added SHO Harinder Singh.
Deepak, who runs a tea stall just outside the board’s main office, acted as an agent while both Surjit Singh and Karnail Singh have previously worked in the examination branch of the board. The police are also investigating whether the two superintendents used fake mark sheets or changed the marks of students, who paid them to do so when posted in this branch.
As per the police, the other accused Krishan Gopal, who lives in Payal, earlier worked as an RMP doctor and when the authorities cracked down on such doctors, he closed down his practice and opened a temple in his house. He used the money offered by those coming to his temple to run his family, police said. Krishan knew Deepak, who in turn knew that due to the temple, Krishan knew many people from the nearby villages. Police said Deepak then asked Krishan to refer students to him and in turn was paid a cut.
Source : indianexpress
