Two held for selling fake degrees and marksheets in Noida

Police recovered 120 fake marksheets and marksheet making equipment, including a printer, computer and white papers. The suspects have been identified as Abdul Samad (61), a resident of Ghaziabad and Adil (26), a Dadri resident. Police said that while Samad has been in the forgery business for over 20 years, Adil joined him two months back

Gautam Budh Nagar Police on Saturday arrested two suspects, including a 61-year-old man, for allegedly producing and selling fake university degrees and certificates.

The two suspects, in police custody in Noida on Saturday. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT)

The suspects have been identified as Abdul Samad (61), a resident of Ghaziabad and Adil (26), a Dadri resident. Police said that while Samad has been in the forgery business for over 20 years, Adil joined him two months back.

“Adil’s father Akil was an accomplice of Samad for the last 20 years. However, he passed away two months back after which his son joined Samad,” said Ranvijay Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.

Police recovered 120 fake marksheets and marksheet making equipment, including a printer, computer and white papers.

“Both the suspects have studied till class 12 and they used CorelDRAW software to make the fake documents. They used to charge around ₹3,000- ₹4,000 for one document. Rates were fixed according to the type of degree. So far, Samad has made fake degrees for over 10,000 people. They used to make 10-15 documents per month and earned around ₹50,000 on a monthly basis,” ADCP Singh said.

The two were arrested from a spot near the Sector 15 Metro station, police added.

They were booked for cheating, forgery and conspiracy under Section 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Phase 1 police station. They were sent to judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate.