Fake degrees scams busted in Rajkot

Fake degrees scams busted in Rajkot

TNN | Dec 13, 2021, 04.10 AM IST

RAJKOT: Two rackets of making and selling fake educational degree certificates and markets were busted in Rajkot with the police arresting three persons including a woman.

The degree certificates were made for students who were aspiring to go to Canada for further studies or immigrate.

The special operations group (SOG) sources said that over a dozen bogus MBA certificates were seized from the accused during the raid that was conducted by the cops a fortnight ago. The cops said that further investigations may lead to more arrests in the case.

The SOG sleuths had nabbed Paras Khajuria near his house on Vidyanagar Road after they received a tip-off that he was selling bogus degree certificates. When his two-wheeler was checked, the investigators found 11 degree certificates of MBA and marksheets. The degrees were from Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Agra and Allahabad University.

“We sent the degrees to the respective universities to ascertain if they were genuine. On Saturday, we got the reply from the universities that the degree certificates were fake following which we arrested Khajuria,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Manoharsinh Jadeja. Khajuria is a visa agent and helps aspiring students to immigrate to Canada.

Apart from providing service to genuine clients, Khajuria used to look for the aspirants who wanted to immigrate but didn’t have an MBA degree that helps in getting more points for permanent residence (PR) in Canada. He was engaged in the racket of making bogus degrees for the last six years. When asked how he managed to get fake degrees, Khajuria said that Darshan Kotak, a resident of Ahmedabad, used to send him the degrees,” Jadeja added.

Khajuria used to charge anywhere between Rs 70,000 to Rs one lakh per degree from the aspirants. He used to keep half the money and send the rest to Kotak who too has been booked by the police for fraud.

Police also booked Vaibhav Patadia, Apurva Patel and Viral Goradia in whose names the seized certificates were issued. Khajuria has been sent to one day of police custody by the court. Vaibhav, who was looking to get more points in PR, too has been arrested.

In a separate case of bogus certificates, a 35-year-old woman too has been arrested from the city. Dharmishta Makadia, a resident of Sadhu Vasvani Road, was making fake MBA degrees for the last one year. Police seized five bogus degrees and seven photocopies from her. “The fake degrees were in the name of William Carey University based in Meghalaya. She used to charge Rs 70,000 per degree certificate,” Jadeja said.

Police said was earlier booked in Maharashtra too for the similar crime.

Makadia told the investigators that a Delhi-based man Prakash Yadav, who was her Facebook friend, used to send her fake degrees. She claimed that Yadav gave her the idea of how to execute the racket. Police also booked Malti Trivedi and Maulik Jasani, in whose names the bogus certificates seized from Makadia, were issued. She has been remanded to one day of police custody by the court.