Bengaluru police bust marks card racket involving fake university documents, one held | Azad Times

In a major crackdown on educational fraud, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in Bengaluru arrested the Managing Director of a tech firm, Ssystems Quest Private Ltd, for running a fake marks card racket. The accused, Vikas Bhagat, has been charged with providing fake marks cards and degree certificates to students who did not appear for exams.

The fraud scheme was uncovered when a 26-year-old student approached the suspect's office with the intention of continuing his education through a correspondence course. However, the office staff convinced him to pay them Rs 25,000 and promised to provide him with fake marks cards and certificates without him having to take any exams. The student reported the incident to the police, and a case was officially registered on January 3.

During several coordinated raids at New Quest Technologies at Rajajinagar, Ssystem Quest at JP Nagar, Aarohi Institute in Chandrappa Layout, Vishwa Jyothi College at Dasarahalli and Benaka Correspondence College at Vijayanagar, the police confiscated 6,800 fake marks cards of various universities, 22 laptops and computers, and 13 mobile phones. The offices of the company and its associates were searched, and it was discovered that the firm was registered as a computer and software development business, but did not offer any education-related services. The accused Vikas Bhagat, had been deceiving students into believing he had connections with well-known universities and could provide them with the fraudulent certificates.

Investigations revealed that Bhagat was charging students between Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 for each fake document and that the fake marks cards were in the name of universities such as Sikkim University, Annamalai University, Gitam University, BSIT University, Kuvempu University, Mangalore University, and Bangalore University among others.