Bhayandar : A 57-year-old accused, who has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a fake certificate scam that came to light in Mira Road, is suspected to be part of a much bigger racket.
With the arrest of Riyaz Khan, sleuths of the local crime branch unit of the Thane (rural) police, in association with their Mira Road counterparts, claim to have busted a fake documents-making racket on Friday.
Following complainants from the revenue department in context to the detection of forged government documents, including domicile, caste and nationality certificates, a police team led by API Sanjay Bangar carried out investigations and zeroed in on the accused, Khan.
A resident of Srushti area who operated from his office near Balaji Hotel in Mira Road, Khan had recently provided government certificates for a local resident. But the certificates, which reached the local tehsil office for authentication, turned out to be fake and fabricated.
A case under sections 420, 465, 466 and 472 of the IPC has been registered against the accused. Although the investigators have not ruled out the possibility of more arrests in the case, the material and equipment used to prepare the fake documents are yet to be recovered.
Not ruling out the possibility of more arrests, Bangar said that the case had been handed over to the Mira Road police for further investigations.
Suresh Golani
