Four people were arrested on suspicion of running a fictitious university and forging more than 1,000 academic documents, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

 

Police said a team from the Commissioner’s Task Force (West Zone) raided three branches of the Hyderabad Educational and Research Centre in Hyderabad on Wednesday and detained the four and seized 1,052 fake documents.

Two of the suspects worked as counsellors at the centre while the rest were security guards.

Another man who declared himself as director of at least three educational institutions under the Hyderabad Educational and Research Centre has absconded.

Police said the five placed newspaper advertisements offering various courses at those institutions.

“These institutions are neither recognised nor affiliated to any university under the University Grants Commission (UGC),” they said.

The suspects were believed to charge fake documents at 18,000 rupees (about US$281) each for a degree, 24,500 rupees (US$383) for an engineering certificate and 15,000 rupees (US$234) for a diploma.

- Bernama