Odisha Crime Branch to probe interstate link in fake certificate racket

Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch of Odisha Police will soon form multiple teams to investigate the fake academic certificate racket in Bolangir.

“The fake certificate racket has intrastate and interstate ramifications. The Crime Branch will soon form multiple teams to conduct simultaneous investigation at various locations,” said a senior official today.

The Crime Branch today started investigation into a cheating case involving the fake certificate racket mastermind Manoj Mishra and his aide Aloka Ugata in Bolangir.

As per the allegation, the duo had duped one Rajat Kumar Nayak of Rs 5 lakh by promising him a job.

Nayak, a resident of Chandatora under Sindhekela police limits, had paid Rs 5 lakh in several installments to Manoj Mishra, the owner of Reliance Educational Complex in Bolangir, and his friend Alok Ugata for arranging a job for him.

The accused duo had asked Nayak to apply for the Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS) post in February this year and offered him a Class-X certificate of Madhyamik Sikshya Parishad, Uttar Pradesh.

Nayak applied for the job but he, later, came to know that the academic certificate provided by Mishra and Ugata was a fake one. He had lodged a complaint in this regard with Bolangir Town Police Station.

A five-member team of the Crime Branch led by DSP Debabrata Chakra began probe into the cheating case.

The Crime Branch had earlier begun probe into a fake certificate case registered against Mishra, Ugata and several others at Bolangir Town Police Station.

Bolangir Division Superintendent of Post Offices Rajendra Kumar Pattanayak had lodged a police complaint in connection with the alleged submission of fake certificates by some aspirants for the posts of GDS.

Of the 60 aspirants, at least 38 have submitted Class X certificates obtained from Board of High School and Intermediate Education/Madhyamik Sikshya Parishad of Uttar Pradesh. These certificates appear to be fake ones, Pattanayak had said in his complaint.

The police had registered a case in this regard and launched a probe. During investigation, they came to know that the fake certificate racket was being operated from Reliance Educational Complex at Patnagarh Road in Bolangir.

On the basis of the prima facie evidence, the police have arrested 19 persons, including Mishra and Ugata, in connection with the fake certificate racket.

The police have seized Rs 3.67 lakh, four computers, one laptop, three printers, a scanner, a Xerox machine, several other equipment, and fake rubber stamps of 33 educational institutions across the country from the accused persons, sources said.