Officials of Bangalore East taluk office exposed a fake income certificate racket that catered to economically weak and disadvantaged sections who wanted to enrol their children in private schools under the Right To Education (RTE) Act.
The scam came to light when the officials received a certificate from the Education Department for verification. The applicant’s address was in Bangalore east, but the certificate had been issued in Bangalore south. Officials alerted the K R Puram police.
Police summoned the applicant’s father Shafi. The 45-year-old is from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. He works as a cook and lives with his family in K R Puram. He revealed that he had gone to the K R Puram taluk office for a caste and income certificate. After running from pillar to post for many days, he was approached by a man who promised to get the certificate if he was paid Rs 500. The man was identified as Jaipal, a real estate agent from Jaya Nagar. Shafi agreed and paid him Rs 1,000 since his brother Usman too needed a similar certificate for the same reason.
Jaipal handed over the certificates to Shafi within two days. Shafi submitted the same to the school where he wanted to enrol his child. It eventually reached the Bangalore East taluk office for authentication.
Based on information provided by Shafi, the police picked up Jaipal and an associate Ravi from Shivaji Nagar. They suspect the duo could be part of a bigger racket.
Bangalore east division tahsildar Harish told The Hindu that this case could expose other fake certificates.
