Vyapam Scam claimed 48 lives, but Bengaluru fake marks card scam is even bigger!
- Fake marks cards rampant in Bengaluru, three agents arrested
- Police identifies over 400 beneficiaries of fake marks cards
- The police say this scam is bigger than the Vyapam one
FollowBengaluru is the land of opportunity with IT companies and academic institutions making their home in the city. And this has also led the city to become a hub for fake marks cards and degree certificates.
Last April, City Crime Branch officials raided an education consulting firm and arrested Kunal Kumar Mondal, a 28-year-old from Bihar, for allegedly selling fake marks cards.
Last week Bengaluru police arrested three people selling fake certificates in the city and have recovered 1600 from their email accounts. The scam is based out of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
The CCB has said that over 400 people have joined private firms, government companies and have also gone abroad. The police have said that it will form teams to go after the individuals who have bought these marks cards.
The scam is similar to the Vyapam Scam in Madhya Pradesh. The Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal was instituted by the Madhya Pradesh state government to conduct several entrance tests in the state. The first Public Interest Litigation into the scam was filed by Dr Anand Rai, a medical officer and an activist, alleging irregularities in the pre-medical tests (PMT). This was in 2009. The scam unravelled when in 2013, 20 people were arrested for impersonation. 17 were from Uttar Pradesh and had come to write the PMT exam.
Several politicians and bureaucrats were arrested in connection to this case. It included BJP minister Laxmikant Sharma, Officer on Special Duty OP Shukla and racket leader Dr Jagdish Sagar. A bigger gang comprising Sudhir Rai, Santosh Gupta and Tarang Sharma were also arrested. The trio had helped several students gain admission in medical colleges in Karnataka.
A total of 48 deaths have been attributed to the Vyapam scam, several under mysterious circumstances. Shailesh Yadav, son of former MP Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, was found dead at his residence. The autopsy report could not ascertain his death. Akshay Singh, an AajTak journalist, was found dead near railway tracks in Ujjain.
The agents deal in marks cards of universities such as Karnataka Open University, Bangalore University, University of Allahabad and Thiruvalluvar University among others.The police believe that the Bengaluru fake marks card scam is bigger than Vyapam. Investigations are on to ascertain any political links to the scam because of its magnitude. The police have found marks cards from CBSE Board, Board of Secondary Education of Andhra Pradesh and Delhi and Gujrat Secondary Education board. This, they say, has raised suspicions of the fake marks cards being a nationwide scam.
