21 December,2024 12:02 PM IST | Mumbai | Aishwarya Iyer
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The Tilak Nagar police have arrested the fourth accused in the alleged Somaiya Vidyavihar University admission racket, where at least 49 students seeking admission to Class 11 at SK Somaiya College, KJ Somaiya College, and SK Somaiya Vidyamandir School were found to have submitted forged documents.
These documents, uploaded by the accused, also point to the involvement of two senior clerks employed at the colleges. The fourth accused played the role of "verifying" documents, a task assigned to him by the state education department as part of the FYJC admission process.
According to Tilak Nagar police officials, the fourth accused has been identified as Pandit Ramesh Karanke, 42, a junior clerk at Hindi High School, a government-run institution near Ghatkopar railway station. Karanke was given an additional duty in the FYJC admission process because his school was selected as a centre to assist students with admissions.
The previously arrested accused include Mahendra Vishnu Patil, 45, of SK Somaiya College, and Arjun Rathod, 43, of KJ Somaiya College - both of whom have been employed by the varsity for over two decades. Patil and Rathod allegedly manipulated the grades of low-scoring students and uploaded forged mark sheets and leaving certificates (LCs) to the government's website. The third accused, Devendra Suryakanth Sadaye, 55, reportedly assisted the duo by filling out and uploading admission forms on behalf of students.
Karanke's role involved verifying documents uploaded to the admission portal. Rathod allegedly provided him with at least 17 forged student documents and instructed him to approve them. For each mark sheet and leaving certificate, Karanke charged Rs 10,000, earning a total of Rs 1.2 lakh for verifying 17 documents.
A resident of Dombivli, Karanke was apprehended following a technical investigation into the digital activity of the first three accused. Police found that money had been transferred to Karanke's account from Rathod's bank account. Early on Friday morning, after extensive tracking, Karanke was arrested at his residence. He was produced in court later that afternoon and remanded to police custody until December 24.
Police now plan to interrogate Karanke further and examine his digital records and phone call history to determine the extent of his involvement and the duration of his association with the other accused in the racket.
