Fake degree racket busted, 2 held

Vadodara: The detection of crime branch (DCB) has busted a fake degree certificate racket and arrested two persons on Wednesday. The owners of Kaplon Group were nabbed after the crime branch received a complaint against them some time ago. The accused duo, identified as Viral Jaiswal and Nilay Shah, used to sell fake degrees and marksheets to needy students in exchange of a hefty fee.
The police said that the complainant Prashant Rathod had visited Kaplon’s in 2016 as he wanted to go to the US. “Rathod used to stay with his mother and he wanted to study in the US. He hadn’t passed HSC so he needed a passing certificate. Jaiswal promised him a HSC certificate and charged him Rs 20,000,” said Jaydeepsinh Jadeja, DCP (crime).
After Rathod received his certificate, his friend checked online and found that the certificate is bogus. “Rathod approached Jaiswal and said that he didn’t want a fake certificate. He demanded his money back but Jaiswal refused to refund the amount. Rathod then decided to approach the police. We registered his complaint and nabbed the accused,” Jadeja told TOI.
The police recovered 72 fake certificates, bogus degrees and marksheets from Kaplon’s premises in Windsor Plaza, Alkapuri. The degrees and marksheets belonged to different institutes and universities in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. “The accused used to charge anywhere between Rs 60,000 to Rs 90,000 for providing fake such certificates. We are now trying to find out the people who have bought such degrees,” Jadeja said.
He added that there is a complete gang involved in this racket. “The marksheets and degrees that have holograms and barcodes that look real. This must be the work of experts who have been involved in such frauds in the past too. We will track them down now,” Jadeja added. The police said that Kaplon was started in 2006 to provide coaching to students for different courses.