Four more held in fake paramedical certificates case

Mumbai: The police has arrested four more persons from Thane, in the alleged fake paramedical certificates case, taking the total number of arrests to 17, said police officials Saturday.

The four accused arrested on April 11 were working as pharmacists at various medical shops in the Thane vicinity. The arrests were part of an investigation into the fake certificates racket, which was busted by the crime branch in January this year.

At that time, the police had arrested 13 persons, including the chairman of a paramedical organisation, and the chairman of a Pune-based Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad, which is not recognised by the state government.

The Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said that some students had secured fake Class 10 and Class 12 certificates from the Pune-based organisation, and used them to get admissions in D. Pharm and B. Pharm courses.

The students completed the pharmacy courses and used the fake qualification certificates to get jobs as pharmacists, they said in a release.

The four arrested persons have been identified as Kamlesh Patel, 23; Jagdish Choudhari, 42; Vazaram Choudhari, 36; and Chunilal Choudhari, 50.

Earlier in January, the Thane crime branch had busted a fake pharmacy certificates racket operating from a college in the district’s Dhokali area.

According to the police, the chairman of the college, Dr Purshottam Tahilramani, allegedly helped pharmacists procure fake HSC and DPharma certificates.