Mumbai: Clerk Arrested In Connection With Fake Document Verification Amid Somaiya College Admission Scam

Mumbai: In the recently unearthed Somaiya College admission scam, a 42-year-old man working as a junior clerk at a Ghatkopar school has been caught, taking the number of arrests to four.

Meanwhile, a special investigation team (SIT), led by an assistant police commissioner, has been formed to take the probe further. Pandit Karanke, the fourth accused, was arrested from his residence in Dombivli on the night of December 19.

In the preliminary investigation, the cops found that Karanke “verified fake documents for 20 students” He has been remanded him to police custody until December 25. According to the police, Karanke has been working as a junior clerk at a Hindi high school in Ghatkopar for the past 10 years. The institute was designated as a verification center for admission processes by the school education department.

Probe revealed that Karanke allegedly exploited his position to verify bogus mark sheets and school leaving certificates and took several lakhs for the job. Arjun Rathod, another co-accused, used to send fake documents for verification to Karanke, said the police, adding that such bogus papers facilitated fraudulent admissions.

Those arrested earlier include Mahendra Patil, 49, and Arjun Rathod, 43, who work as clerks at the institutes of the Somaiya Trust, and alleged middleman Devendra Saide, 55. The accused allegedly created fake documents and tampered with the system to fraudulently admit around 50 students to class 1.

Parents reportedly paid between Rsl5 lakh-Rs2 lakh for each admission, as per the probe. While details for the state board students are prefilled, data for those from other boards must be entered manually. The scam reportedly exploited such a ‘loophole’ in the online admission system. Probe is on to identify similar past frauds.