Two arrested in Delhi for issuing fake university degrees

The crime branch of Delhi Police on Monday said it busted a racket in which the culprits made forged degrees, mark sheets and certificates of various government-run and private universities, and arrested two people.

Police said the suspects have sold over 2,000 fake degrees in the past three years, adding that they operated under the garb of running an educational institute. The two were identified as Dal Chand Meherolia, 34, the owner of the institute, and his partner Mahaveer Kumar, 30. While Meherolia was arrested from his office, Kumar was arrested from his house in Burari.

According to special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Singh Yadav, the suspects charged anywhere between ₹20,000 and ₹2.2 lakh from each person, depending upon the kind of degree. “Many people who obtained the forged educational certificates have secured jobs in India and abroad based on the documents,” said Yadav.

According to Yadav, the southern range team of the crime branch recently received information about the syndicate under the garb of MH Eduversity, Digital School of India, from an office at Netaji Subhash Place Complex in Pitampura.

“A total of 19 fake mark sheets, certificates and degrees of Shanghai International University, William Carey University, and universities of Shilong, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Kalinga, and Bihar were recovered. Our team also seized 11 laptops, 14 phones and fake stamps from the office,” added Yadav.

Meherolia’s interrogation led to the arrest of Kumar. Meherolia said he had been running the institute since 2020 and had employed many women as tele-callers, who called students seeking admission to different universities and provided their data to Meherolia. He contacted them further through secured calling platforms and lured them by offering certificates of course and educational institute of their choice, said Yadav.

“Meherolia never met the candidates. He prepared their certificates after receiving their details and money. The certificates were sent to them through couriers,” added Yadav.