The Bengaluru police arrested the owner of Sri Venkateshwara Educational Institute and busted a fake marks card racket in the city on Wednesday. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) investigators received a tip that a fake marks card racket was being run in Mahalakshmi Layout. They raided the premises of the institute late on Tuesday night and arrested Sandeep Reddy (45), the owner.

The police also recovered over 45 stamps belonging to several open universities across the country along with marks card printing materials.  The police further stated that Reddy allegedly came to Bengaluru 14 years ago and worked as an IT consultant. It was five years ago that he started the Sri Venkateshwara Institute. The institute provided career counseling services and training to those pursuing graduate degrees like engineering and commerce. It also acts as an examination centre for those who wanted to do correspondence courses.

Police told that Reddy allegedly duped people by stating that the institute would help them obtain their degree certificates from the college of their choice. A CCB official said, “We are still trying to figure out his modus operandi. So far, we have reason to believe that Sandeep Reddy duped some people who were seeking degrees through correspondence course. However, there is suspicion that there were people who knew about his activities and paid for the fake degree marks cards.”

Investigating officers also added that the owner has charged Rs 2.5 lakh for a Bachelors degree in engineering and up to Rs 8 lakh for an M.Phil degree certificate. “We suspect that he has made crores of rupees. Since we arrested him only today, we are yet to find out the extent of the scam. We have recovered hundreds of fake marks cards from over 40 universities in the country at his office. We also raided his house on Tuesday night and recovered the stamps used for these marks cards,” the police added.

The police have booked Sandeep Reddy under sections 420 (cheating) and 419 (cheating by impersonating) of the IPC.

Source: The News Minute