1,800 clients in a year: Fake certificate mill run by two school dropouts busted in Kasaragod

Kasaragod: Hosdurg Sub-Inspector Akhil T found it odd when, a month ago, Kanhangad DySP Babu Peringeth asked him to keep an eye on an internet cafe in town. He thought browsing centres had long faded into obscurity in the smartphone era. "I didn’t even know internet cafes still existed in Kanhangad," he said.

That was until he launched a surveillance operation outside Net 4 U Cyber on the first floor of an unremarkable building, diagonally opposite Pancharatna Restaurant in Kanhangad. "It is a three-cubicle setup not visible from the road," he said.

What unfolded over the next few weeks would uncover a sprawling forgery racket. Akhil noticed that the cafe had one steady visitor: Raveendran P, a 51-year-old man from Muzhakkoth in Kayyur village, some 20 km away. He would arrive with a hard disk, stay for a while, and leave. Nothing about him stood out — until the police swooped in on Tuesday.

The raid confirmed their suspicions. Inside the hard disk templates of degree certificates from nearly every major university in Kerala -- Kannur University, University of Calicut, MG University, University of Kerala -- and beyond, including Annamalai University, and some from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, said police. The disk also held letterheads from hospitals, government offices, and private firms.

Raveendran, a Class 10 dropout who had honed his skills in desktop publishing (DTP) since age 16, was crafting counterfeit certificates with alarming expertise. "His clients were primarily job seekers looking for experience and degree certificates and marks list to help them secure jobs abroad," said Hosdurg Station House Officer, Inspector Ajith Kumar P. "But we also found templates of driving licence in his hard disk."

He was not acting alone. Raveendran was WhatsApping the certificates he made to a phone number owned by one Shihab (38). A follow-up raid at Shihab's house in Hosdurg Kadappuram led to the seizure of reams of certificate-grade paper.

A Class 9 dropout, Shihab, who is also involved in the illegal single-digit lottery business, was the man who dealt with clients, said police. He took care of the final touches -- printing, stamping, and handing over the forged documents to clients. Shihab charged ₹12,000 and above for each fake certificate, said Inspector Ajith Kumar. "His family was aware that he was selling fake certificates," he said.

Shihab would give ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 to Raveendran for each certificate he crafted, said SI Akhil. Hosdurg Police also arrested the owner of the internet cafe, Santhosh Kumar (45), a resident of Kovalpalli in Kanhangad town. "As of now, we don’t have proof that Santhosh received a cut, but he certainly knew what Raveendran was up to in his cafe," he said.

According to the police, Raveendran had been working out of Net 4 U Cyber since 2021. DySP Peringeth first caught wind of the racket after intercepting a fake driving licence in the possession of a resident from Manikoth, on the outskirts of Kanhangad. A round of questioning pointed them to the cyber cafe.

In the past year alone, police estimate that the duo may have sold at least 1,800 fake certificates, with proceeds of the crime amounting to at least ₹1.8 crore. "We have also received information that they altered the photograph on a passport. The full scale of their operations will emerge only after a detailed investigation. As of now, they are uncooperative," said Inspector Ajith Kumar.

The three men -- Raveendran, Shihab, and Santhosh -- were booked under Sections 318(4) and 336(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for cheating and forgery, which carry a maximum sentence of seven years. Police also invoked Section 66D of the Information Technology Act for using computer resources to deceive. The shop has been sealed.

The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I has remanded the trio in custody. "We are moving the court to seek their custody for further questioning," said Sub-Inspector Akhil.