Four postal candidates held in fake certificate scam in Koraput

KORAPUT: Koraput police on Friday arrested four candidates on charges of producing fake educational certificates during the grameen dak sevaks (GDS) recruitment in the postal department's Koraput division.
According to police, based on a complaint filed by senior superintendent of posts (SSP), Koraput, Manoj Pragada regarding the submission of fake educational certificates by 22 selected candidates for various posts under GDS an investigation was started following which the arrests were made.
"During investigation it was found that the arrested candidates produced fake educational certificates of the Board of High School and Intermediate Examination, Uttar Pradesh and Board of Secondary Education, Odisha. Investigation is on to trace the middleman supplying the certificates and the kingpin of the racket," said SP (Koraput) .
According to the SP, during the investigation it was found that though the arrested candidates had scored over 95 per cent in their matriculation examination they failed to write even a single sentence in English.
Those arrested are Gopal Krishna Patnaik (25) and Dani Harijan (25) from Nabarangpur district, Sanathi Halaba from Laxmipur in Koraput district and Kishore Khara (29) from Malkangiri, police sources said.
Altogether 17 out of 22 selected candidates who have submitted alleged fake educational certificates belong to places outside Koraput district, the superintedent of police said.
Sources said after declaration of result of recruitment for selection to various posts under the GDS, the selected candidates were to report to the office for verification of their certificates that they had uploaded online at the time of applying for the respective posts.
However, during verification of the original certificates and mark sheets submitted by the candidates, an unexpected percentage of marks was noticed that led to cropping of suspicion over their genuineness and a complaint was registered with the police.