Narmada Police: Woman, the part of a false marksheet scam apprehended

Following a complaint from the Registrar of Birsa Munda Tribal University, the Narmada district police arrested a 30-year-old woman and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate a suspected nationwide scam of fraudulent certificates and marksheets.

According to the Narmada police, who apprehended the culprit in New Delhi, he had "connection" with university staff and had sold over 1,000 bogus diplomas since 2020.

The registrar of Birsa Munda University filed a complaint with the Rajpipla police station on December 10, 2021, alleging that the university had received a phoney certificate for verification that had been made through the university's fake website.

The false website and documents were established from an address in Delhi's Uttam Nagar neighbourhood, according to the police.

Bauli Nand Rev, the accused, was accused of being a member of a scheme that produced forged credentials and marksheets from over 35 universities.

According to Narmada Superintendent of Police Himkar Singh, the woman, a former Google employee, was laid off in 2020 and then decided to join the racket.

Singh said, "We are probing her network even with the 35 universities, whose marksheets and certificates have been recovered… The SIT headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kevadia Divison, Vani Doodhat will now probe the involvement of lower staff of these universities."

Singh added that most of the certificates sold were "back dated" and for a hefty price.

"The woman is originally from Jharkhand and settled in Delhi for the last one-and-a-half years. She has told the police that she has sold over 1,000 fake certificates and marksheets… The accused charged up to Rs 3 lakh for a fake PhD certificate," he said.

The accused was found with 237 degree diplomas, over 500 marksheets, and 94 rubber stamps, according to police.

Forgery (465), forgery of a valuable security (467), forgery for the purpose of cheating (468), fraudulently and dishonestly using as genuine any document or electronic record that is known to be forged (471), and defamation (500), as well as relevant sections of the IT Act, were filed against the accused.