Over 25 fake admissions suspected in Delhi University colleges, four arrested

New Delhi: A racket which allegedly facilitated around 25 fake admissions in top colleges of Delhi University using forged documents was on Thursday busted by Delhi police and four persons have been arrested, including a student of the varsity’s Aurobindo college. [caption id=“attachment_2372676” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] “A Crime Branch team arrested accused Sunil Panwar aka Guruji, Mohammad Zubeir, Praveen Jha and Ranchit Khurana yesterday for running the admission racket using fake mark-sheets, migration certificates, degrees, character certificates and other such papers to admit students to colleges,” said ACP Crime Branch KPS Malhotra. Some college officials are also under the scanner. “On a tip-off, the four persons were arrested from Malviya Nagar main market. A case has been registered against them who were running the racket for nearly 3 years. They also forged degrees and certificates of different universities which they sold to persons seeking job,” he added. The accused were allegedly behind 25 fake admissions in various colleges of North and South Campus of Delhi University including Bhagat Singh College, Aurobindo College, Dayal Singh College, Ram Lal Anand College, Hindu College, Kirori Mal College and Kamla Nehru College. College officials, however, denied having any information about these fake admissions and maintained they have strict mechanism in place to check such activities. During interrogation, the gang leaders Sunil Panwar and Zubeir, a final year student of Aurobindo College, said that they used to scout for candidates who could not get admissions in DU. Ranchit was involved in procuring fake documents for such candidates from Praveen Jha, the officer said. Large number of blank and complete degrees, mark sheets, caste certificates and other documents were seized from Praveen’s house in West Vinod Nagar. Computer, printers and stamps of different schools and education boards were also recovered from there, police said. The gang also created fake websites of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar boards as they mainly prepared documents of UP and Bihar boards as most of their candidates belonged to that area, they said. Documents of students who are suspected to have secured admission on the basis of forged documents are being obtained from the concerned colleges and will be examined, the ACP said. The racketeers used to charge Rs 3-7 lakh from the students seeking admission in a college and course of their choice, he said, adding, further investigations were underway. When contacted, Hindu College principal Anju said, “We have not got any information from the police about any fake admissions. Our process was seamless this year.” PK Khurana, Principal, Shaheed Bhagat Singh college said, “We have strict mechanism in place and a zero tolerance approach towards fake admissions. We have no information about these cases.” Delhi University doesn’t have a centralised admission policy for its colleges. The affiliated institutions are under the control of their Governing Bodies (GBs) and have their own admission committees with convener and teachers as members. PTI