Mumbai: The Sahar police arrested Prathamesh Maniyar, 39, a resident of Jamnagar, at Mumbai International Airport on Sunday, after immigration officials busted a racket he allegedly ran involving providing of fake educational certificates to school dropouts seeking jobs or planning to migrate overseas.Police said Maniyar, described as the mastermind of the racket, arrived from Bangkok on Sunday at 2.30am, reportedly after dropping a few people whom he provided the certificates. He was detained after he failed to explain his own profession during questioning at the airport. In a complaint, immigration counter officer Rohithash Kumar, 40, said: “I got suspicious when Maniyar failed to give a satisfactory answer about his work profile. He was later produced before the passenger profiling officer where he claimed he was into the business of helping people get admission into schools and colleges in Gujarat. Maniyar said he also helps people seeking jobs in Canada and UK get fake certificates.“A Sahar police officer said the cache details in Maniyar’s mobile phone showed a list of forged documents and certificates that he allegedly planned to hand over to at least 13 people, with certificates shown as issued by universities in Bhopal, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. Police said Maniyar had been active in the illegal business since 2015 and charged Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh for each fake certificate. Officers said he pretended to facilitate admissions for students in Jamnagar, but interrogation revealed he allegedly provided fake degrees and marksheets to youths who wanted to go abroad. “He had set up a large network with agents in various cities and states across the country. Fake documents were being supplied through several agents in Jaipur, Bhopal, Ambala and Delhi. Investigation has also revealed that various bank accounts in Jamnagar and Baroda were being used for financial transactions,” said the officer. Police said that in Maniyar’s seized mobile phone, they found a large digital cache of fake documents, including Gujarat Board mark sheets, fake provisional certificates and degrees, fake marksheets prepared in the name of students, and screenshots of conversations with agents. “The team also seized screenshot of all the passengers who have travelled abroad recently and with whom he had a WhatsApp chat about the details and documents he shared with them,” said the officer. Police said they were gathering details of the total number of people from different states who were provided with fake educational certificates by Maniyar and his team, and the total money earned since 2015. A case was registered against him for preparing fake documents, cheating and misleading various institutions.
