Marksheet scam: Cops to probe international angle

The scam was unearthed after a flying squad of MSU officials caught three students with bogus marksheets on January 22. A probe revealed one Hemant Zala and Mitesh Patel had duped four students of Rs 7 lakh each for admission into the university’s electrical engineering course. One of the students is absconding.

Last Friday,the police arrested Zala,Patel,Kamlesh Mehta — a government-appointed senate member of M S University — and one Viral Panchal in connection with the racket. Keen said Mehta is the kingpin of the racket and was admitting students since 2007.

The police said Panchal was arrested while trying to rectify an error in his fake marksheet. Panchal went to MSU authorities with a demand draft of Rs 100 for the rectification. “During the tabulation,it was found that Panchal did not appear for any exam at all. Another student had appeared for the exam in the Bachelor of Arts course,” said In-charge Deputy Registrar N K Ojha.

M S University officials said several requests are made by employers and foreign universities to verify the authenticity of the marksheets submitted by the employees or students.

“We get about 20 to 25 such requests from across the globe to check on the students who are either working or studying in these institutions,” Ojha said,adding that they expect a large number of authentication requests in the wake of the police investigations into the scam.

The police have now began a search for one Krunal Suryakant Patel,a resident of Manjalpur,named by Panchal during his custody,which will expire on Monday.

Litmus Test

University authorities charge Rs 100 through a demand draft from any nationalised bank to check for the authenticity and also rectification of any error in the marksheet.

According to university administration,when such requests come to the university authorities,they check the seat number for the examination from the Tabulation Department in the Exams section.

One way to determine is to check the seat number of the candidate during a particular year when the marksheet was issued. The other way is to check for the first two semesters during the course,where the results are declared as “pass”,and no distinctions are awarded.

In the past,the fraudsters have also used separate fonts for the bogus marksheets,university authorities say.