Odisha Crime Branch To Probe Fake Certificate Racket, 5-Member Team To Visit Balangir

Bhubaneswar: With the Odisha government ordering Crime Branch probe into the fake certificate racket,  a five-member CB team is leaving for Balangir on Saturday to investigate the case, even as opposition parties have been slamming the ruling BJD over the issue.

The five-member CB team led by DSP D B Chakra will also carry out investigation in other parts of the country where the network of the fake certificate racket is spread, sources said.

The CB team will first visit the Balangir police station and collect the seized documents from the district police. Later, the team will go to the coaching centre run by the alleged mastermind Manoj Mishra.

Notably, Balangir police had arrested 19 persons including the mastermind, Manoj Mishra, allegedly involved in the fake certificate racket.

During their recent raid, Balangir police have seized over 1,000 fake certificates issued in the name of 41 reputed universities.

The CB team will take the fake certificates along with verification reports, seals, diaries and rubber stamps, mobile phones, bank accounts and land documents seized by the Balangir police.

Police had also seized Rs 3.67 lakh in cash from the possession of Mishra.

The racket came to the fore on March 23 when postal authorities detected that some job aspirants had furnished bogus mark sheets and certificates to secure postal jobs in Balangir district.

Notably, the Postal department had published an advertisement in February to fill 83 vacancies in the posts of branch post manager (BPM), assistant BPM and daak sevak.

During the verification, discrepancies were found in 37 of the matric certificates submitted by applicants which were obtained from Uttar Pradesh. While these applicants had scored above 98 per cent and one 99 per cent in English, they reportedly flunked the English test conducted by the department. One student had confessed that she had purchased her board examination certificate by paying Rs 50,000.

Later, fake certificates were found in Kendrapada, Kandhamal and Koraput districts, indicating the vast network of the racket.

On the other hand, opposition parties in the state attacked the Odisha government over the issue by alleging links of the prime accused with BJD leaders.

BJP leader and Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi had displayed photographs of the prime accused in the fake certificate case with former Minister Susanta Singh and alleged a big conspiracy.