Fake certificate racket busted, four arrested

CHENNAI: With the arrest of a four-member gang at New Washermenpet on Sunday, police claimed to have busted a fake certificate racket.It was a complaint from Arun Kumar, a resident of VOC Nagar in New Washermenpet, that led police to the gang. The complaint stated that he went to the Chennai Corporation’s zonal office at Basin Bridge to obtain the birth certificate of his child, where a stranger accosted him. The stranger told him that it would take him at least a fortnight to get the certificate. But he would be able to get it immediately for a sum of Rs 350. Kumar then handed over the money to the stranger. As per his direction, Kumar met the man on Sunday morning and was given the certificate.Sensing that something was amiss, Kumar lodged a complaint with the New Washermenpet police. The police picked up Jayaraman of Marappa Chetty Street in Royapuram and found several fake birth, death, caste and education certificates while the police were combing through his belongings.When Jayaraman was interrogated, he said his associate Perumal of Flagstaff Road affixed bogus signatures, while he found potential customers. The fake certificates were printed by a person named Murthy, who ran a print-ing press at Tiruvottiyur Thangaland Duraipal, who owned a screen-printing unit at Ponneri. The quartet was arrested and fake rubber stamps, seals of some district collectors and certificates were seized.Investigations revealed that the gang had been making bogus documents for three years.