Two Delhi University (DU) employees have been arrested for supplying fake caste certificates to students for admission to colleges, the police said on Thursday.
Neeraj Sharma and Sanjit Mahajan are both permanent employees of the university’s Scheduled Castes (SC) & Scheduled Tribes (ST) cell, a police official told IANS. The arrests came following the interrogation of a three-member gang, arrested by the crime branch of Delhi police for supplying fake caste certificates.
Himanshu Gupta, 26, was the alleged mastermind behind the racket. His two associates were Vikas and Ketan Gupta, both aged 24, the official said. “After interrogating the three, we got information about Sharma and Mahajan. The two Delhi University employees were facilitating them to issue the fake caste certificate,” the official added. Ketan Gupta, who was a data entry operator in the certificate section, revealed that he uploaded the students’ names on the official website of the Delhi government — so that anybody checking the authenticity of the caste certificate would find the name on the official website.
Himanshu Gupta told investigators that he guaranteed admission to renowned colleges in Delhi University by providing forged caste certificates for which he charged an amount of Rs 3-5 lakh. The gang had been operating since 2008, the police said.