Job crunch fuelled marks scam in Lucknow University

LUCKNOW: Desperation for jobs is the primary reason behind the dogged endeavour to procure stellar credentials, even if for a price. This in turn is allowing marksheet forgery to thrive here, police probe into the Lucknow University racket has found.

Of the four candidates among the 26 identified, one wanted a job as a legal adviser in a private firm and two others were hoping to land plum remuneration with local nonprofits. The fourth wanted a teacher's job at a private school, police said. Some of them tasted success, albeit temporarily.

The racket run by former LU clerk Khirodhan Prasad was busted on April 18 after LLB aspirant Saurabh Yadav approached police and said he had been swindled of Rs 1.5 lakh with the promise of a degree from LU.

Khirodhan and five others arrested, including a present LU employee now suspended, had over 300 marksheets purportedly issued by different universities in UP and outside in their possession. The gang is known to have sold at least 26 to jobless and frustrated candidates.

Mahanagar CO Santosh Kumar Singh said, "We hope to zero in on the rest. However, the real challenge is to verify the 300 other marksheets seized."