5 create fake certificates, arrested

A gang of five persons have been held by the city police for running fake agencies and issuing false certificates to students to apply for higher studies abroad. The gang has reportedly helped about 200 persons to leave the country. Police seized 680 fake certificates and 32 passports of the aspirants. The five have been remanded to judicial custody.

Acting on a tip-off, the central zone task force team apprehended five persons — J. Srikanth Reddy, 33, owner of Just Visa Consulting Pvt Ltd and Indo-European Foundation, Mohd Ateeq ur Rahman, 43, partner in Indo-European Foundation, K. Sharath Chandar Prasad, 25, owner of Risers Organisation Consultancy, Imran Shaik, 27, and Akil Manati, 25, for making fake certificates of JNTU, OU, Prof Jayashankar University, Gitam University and other institutions. These fake certificates were later used to apply for admissions in foreign universities.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner, Mr Anjani Kumar said that accused Srikanth, Ateeq and Sharath were running consultancies to provide admissions in foreign colleges. They used to forge the original certificates and issue fake certificates, false bank statements and also fake fixed deposit certificates to produce them during the admission process. Each candidate was charged `50,000 to `60,000 for the work done.

“Once a student approached any of the said consultancies, expressing interest to go abroad, Ateeq, Srikanth and Sharath used to send the aspirants to Imran Shaik, who is also into the preparation of fake certificates, bank statements and other documents required for admission process. The same were given to the foreign universities and the admissions were done.”

“The accused Akil also acted as an agent in bringing the candidates to the consultancies for a commission. Many candidates who have successfully gone abroad are recommending others, who have failed in examinations but wish to study abroad. About 680 fake certificates, 680 original certificates, 96 fake stamps, four CPUs, 89 bank statements, 25 fake IELTS certificates and also two FDs in Andhra Bank, besides 32 original passports have been seized,” said Commissioner Mr. Anjani Kumar.

Another police official said, “About 150 to 200 students were sent abroad in the last two years. They are preparing fake IELTS examination results and bank statements, with fake barcodes and QR Codes, to create an impression that they were genuine using high-end scanners and printers.”

■ SRIKANTH, ATEEQ and Sharath were running consultancies to provide admissions.