HYDERABAD: An intermediate pass out who did not even have a degree landed a job with a reputed software firm in Gachibowli with help of fake degree certificates purchased from Palagoni Srinivas, director of Sri Vaibhav Academy, who was previously arrested by the LB Nagar Special Operations Teams on June 24.
According to police, three more offenders involved in fake certificate racket are on the run, and efforts are on to trace and nab them. Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat has warned the recruiters of such firms to thoroughly verify documents during their hiring process. M. Mallikarjuna Gandhi, an employee of Accenture India Pvt Ltd, was arrested for securing a job by submitting fake educational certificates which were procured from Palagoni Srinivas, director of Sri Vaibhav Academy. The scam came to light with the arrest of Srinivas on June 24.
According to the police, Mallikarjuna Gandhi, who did not even have a degree, approached P. Srinivas of Sri Vaibhav Academy education consultancy firm in Saroornagar and obtained a fake degree from ‘Himalayan University’ in Itanagar. In another instance, 51-year-old K.V. Mallikarjuna Rao paid Srinivas Rs 90,000 for a fake degree certificate for his daughter. While P.Srinivas and K.V. Mallikarjuna Rao were arrested on June 24, Gandhi was apprehended on July 13. Police said they seized fake Himalayan University marks memos and provisional certificates from Mallikarjuna Gandhi.
However, another accused, Brijesh Tiwari, a native of Kolkata, who was Srinivas’ point of contact for obtaining fake certificates from ‘Himalayan University’ in Itanangar, Arunachal Pradesh, is still on the run.
“Brijesh Tiwari was arranging and selling fake and forged educational certificates to Srinivas, who then sold them to his customers. Tiwari’s arrest will shed more light on this case,” said LB Nagar inspector A. Sudhakar (Special Operations Team), while adding that further investigation into the case will result in more arrests. “We’ve learnt that three more people obtained the fake certificates from Sri Vaibhav Academy. It will take some time to identify, track, and apprehend them because it was done about two years ago, but our teams are working on it,” he stated.
Meanwhile, an employee from Accenture’s hiring team, who requested anonymity, stated that the company’s ‘Background Verification’ team is in charge of hiring and cross-checking documents submitted by jobseekers. “After confirming a position in the company, the job-seeker’s profile is shared with the Background Verification team, who cross-checks the documents and approves,” the employee explained.
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