BCom degree for Rs. 90K: Fake education certificates racket busted, 11 held in Hyd

Hyderabad: The special operation team, Madhapur zone, and the KPHB police busted a fake education certificates racket and arrested 11 members of the gang on 28 July. The gang was involved in forging Degree, PG, B.Tech, class 10, and intermediate certificates. The interstate gang had prepared fake certificates of 18 universities and class 10 and intermediate certificates of 13 state boards.

The arrested persons have been identified as Kota Kishore Kumar (42), Bokka Venkateshwara Rao (31), Kurella Kiran Kumar (41), Athunuri Krishna Kanth Reddy (31), Thumu Madhukar (24), Relacharla Gopala Krsihna (25), Bairagani Rajesh Goud (23), Rondla Devendar Reddy (30), Kudeti Krishna Sai (28), Avva Raghavendra Gupta (35), and Shaik Baba Gouse (28).

Three others – Rahul Ghosh, Sanjay Varma, and Prathima Patil – are absconding.

Mungara Venkateshwar Rao of KPHB Colony in West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, filed a complaint stating that three months ago he came to Hyderabad and stayed at the Krishna Chaitanya hostel in KPHB. There he met the hostel warden, Krishna Kanth Reddy alias Nani, and requested him for a job based on his intermediate educational qualification. Nani advised him to meet his friend Bokka Venkateshwar Rao who could provide original degree certificates from the best universities for Rs. 90,000.

Rao contacted Bokka Venkatashwar Rao and agreed to pay the amount for a B.Com degree. After a few days he got a B.Com degree from Chowdary Charan Singh University in Meerut, UP, through courier. Later, he came to know that the certificates were fake. Based on his complaint, the police arrested 11 persons, including hostel warden Krishnakanth Reddy alias Nani.

One of the accused, Kota Kishore, confessed that he used to work as a teacher but lost his job due to the pandemic. In 2020, he started Kampus Services at Niramala Convent road in Vijayawada. He came in contact with Sanjay Varma, Rahul Gosh, and Prathima Patil of West Bengal who were providing fake certificates from various universities. The gang provided fake certificates to nearly 100 people and collected amounts ranging from Rs. 1,50,000 to 2,50,000.