Odisha Postal dept seeks CBI probe into fake certificate scam

BHUBANESWAR: The postal department on Monday wrote to the CBI to probe into the fake certificate scam after it found that at least 40 applicants for postal jobs had submitted bogus documents regarding their educational qualifications.
"A letter has been written to the CBI to take up the investigation since the crime syndicate seems to have spread to multiple states," a spokesperson of the postal department said. The office of chief postmaster general has written to the CBI SP here.
Sources said the department has requested the central probe agency to investigate into all the recruitments of Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS) posts such as branch postmasters, assistant branch postmasters and dak sevaks carried out since 2018.
The postal department has found that at least six had joined the GDS on the basis of fake certificates. It suspects the number may be higher. The department had advertised for 1982 posts. All such the posts selected on the basis of marks since 2018 have come under scanner.
Odisha DGP Sunil Bansal has earlier on March 31 ordered a crime branch probe into the racket, which first came to light in Balangir district last month. A five-member team, led by a DSP rank officer, has been conducting the probe. The Balangir police had arrested 19 people before the Crime Branch took over the probe.
Cases of fake certificates have come to light in Cuttack, Koraput, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, most having links to Balangir where the fake certificates were manufactured by a gang who sold certificates of more than 40 institutions spread across the country for Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.
Crime Branch sources said the bogus certificates with inflated marks were rampantly used in postal jobs because the selections were don on the basis of marks with no other tests. Suspicion first arose in Balangir after the recruiting authorities found that some students had scored 98% in matriculation but had stopped study after that.
The postal department and investigators suspect role of outside state players because the postal department in some cases have got replies from certain boards that the certificates were genuine though these turned out to be fake as conceded by the applicants. Apart from manufacturing fake documents, the syndicate seems to have manipulated the verification process.