Key Points:
Over the past year, many reports of academic fraud have surfaced in the Greater Hyderabad Area
Police have discovered inter-state links, seized hundreds of forged documents, and implicated several shady education consultancy agencies
Cheating cases in Telangana increased 34% between 2023 and 2024 – these include academic dishonesty, financial fraud, and other forms of forgery
Over the past year, many reports of academic fraud have surfaced in the Greater Hyderabad Area of Telangana. According to the Telangana Police Annual Report 2024, published by DGP Jitender Reddy, Telangana saw a 22.5% increase in crime compared to 2023. The biggest jump was in ‘cheating’ crimes – which includes educational dishonesty – with over 10,000 more cases than the previous year, jumping up 34%. Investigating these has unearthed a number of fake certificate rackets.
August 2025
Most recently, 59 constable candidates were booked for producing forged documents during their recruitment. The candidates had been provisionally recruited to various departments and cells within the Telangana Police in 2022 but were caught during the verification process.
The Recruitment board found them to have produced fake documents and forged Bonafide certificates. They were served show-cause notices, but their explanations were judged to lack merit. On the complaint of a Junior Administrative Officer in the Telangana State Police, they were booked by the Central Crime Station of the Hyderabad Police in August 2025. They have been charged under cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.
June 2025
Earlier, on 1 June 2025, a 28-year-old student from Nalgoda district was detained for academic dishonesty. In 2023, he enrolled in Webster University, Missouri using a fake B.Sc. Computer Science degree from Madurai Kamraj University. He studied there for 15 months before returning to India. In May 2024 he tried to re-enter the US but was deported when immigration officials flagged his profile, pointing at his inactive Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) record. Upon his return, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) investigated his credentials, revealing them to be fake. It was discovered that his visa was issued based on these documents.
Under questioning, the student admitted to purchasing the degree in August 2021 from Kathoj Ashok, general manager at Sri Dhanalakshmi Overseas Private Ltd., a college consultancy agency. Police uncovered that Ashok, with the help of a forger in Kerala, had been running a fake certificate racket for five years. He had provided certificates to nearly 15 students, charging between Rs. 80,000 and 1 lakh for each degree. Ashok was arrested a day after the student.
Following the lead, BoI officials uncovered a larger racket involving forged documents to secure international admissions and visas. They intercepted three more students at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on June 9, 10 and 12. The students had procured forged documents for prices varying from Rs. 40,000 to 1.5 lakhs from seemingly unrelated sources. All three suspects were remanded to custody while BoI expanded their probe, hoping to find an overarching connection.
Also Read: Forgery of Death, Warison & Mutation Certificates Leaves Bengal Govt Worried
May 2025
In May, authorities had uncovered a similar racket in Mehdipatnam, leading to the seizure of 108 fake certificates and the arrest of four suspects. The main accused, Mohammed Mujeeb Hussain, ran an education consultancy and was the main provider of the certificates. He sourced documents from Kolkata and Uttar Pradesh. Of the others arrested – Nasir, Sohail and Zia – the first was a client who procured the forged documents for employment purposes, while the other two acted as mediators. Three more accomplices – Manoj Viswash, Ravinder and Ajay – are absconding. The police had been working off a tip and intercepted the suspects in the act of delivering the certificates.
February 2025
Back in February 2025, Telangana Police dismantled another racket in Film Nagar - seizing 114 forged documents and arresting six. The main accused, Mohammed Habeeb, ran Fly Abroad Consultancy and has a history of related offences. He sourced fake degrees from Sunil Kapoor and Rahul Tiwari in Uttar Pradesh and sold them in Hyderabad for Rs. 1 – 1.5 lakhs each. He sourced clients through his education consultancy service and had agents working for him as mediators. His business had been successful enough for him to open a second branch of his consultancy in 2019.
October 2024
Last year, in October, another racket was busted while running out of a photocopy shop in Amberpet. 84 documents were seized and two arrested. The suspects charged aspirants large amounts for fake college degrees.
Across all these instances, consultants/agents from different agencies have been arrested, though no link has been produced by them. Several other cases of non-academic document forgery and fraud have also been reported in the state, such as the fake birth and caste certificate racket which was brought down in May 2025, with police cracking down on all such rackets. But since most of these run across state lines, it is hard for local police to coordinate investigations. Many such incidents have been uncovered across the country as well. To effectively tackle the fake certificate industry would mean intervention by central agencies. [OG/DS]
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