Busted: Fake varsity,in 10x10 room in city

CHENNAI: A 10x10 room in a house in Villivakkam was the last address of a fake university run by an MBA graduate from Chennai until he landed in the city police’s net. The accused, PK Maheshwaran (43) has been running the Indian Institute of Integrated Science Technology and Research (IIISTR) since 2019 at various addresses across the city and was issuing certificates ranging from Diploma to Degree to Post Graduation.

Also Read: Kerala fake degree scam accused widens net, arrested in Chennai

Chennai Police said Maheshwaran and his team were also forging certificates of other universities and government documents like Aadhaar, which were seized from the ‘institute’ in Balambigai Nagar, Villivakkam.

While the institute might be a ‘humble’ one, the IIISTR website would give the websites of actual colleges and universities a run for the money. “Students concerned about statutory recognition need not apply for the programme,” reads the fine print on the website.

It was a complaint from the security officer of the US Consulate, Chennai last month which set the ball rolling after an applicant from Andhra Pradesh, Kallem Sai Ram Reddy, was found to have submitted forged educational and work experience certificates.

The investigation into the case led the Forgery Investigation Wing (FIW) to places in Andhra Pradesh where agents of IIISTR approached potential clients. Two engineering graduates, Rushkesh Reddy (33) and Dhivakar Reddy (32) of Chittoor, were arrested for issuing the certificates to the US visa applicant.

“They were running a garment store in Chittoor and also a consultancy in Hyderabad – Siddhartha Consultancy – through which they assisted ineligible candidates to go to foreign countries for education and work by providing them with fake educational certificates and other supporting documents,” said Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore.

Investigations with the Andhra engineers led police back to Chennai as their supply of the forged certificates was from the city. On Wednesday, a police team landed at a house in a quiet neighbourhood in Villivakkam and arrested Maheshwaran and his associate, Mohammed Riyas (30), who was already arrested by the Kerala police in a similar case.

Ironically, the house where Maheshwaran had rented a room to run his racket also houses the office of a monthly magazine and a private detective agency.

When DT Next visited the neighbourhood on Saturday, the neighbours were unaware of the existence of such an institute in their midst.

“All their potential clients are from states like Andhra Pradesh and northern states and southern Tamil Nadu. For a degree certificate, the price was Rs 1.5 lakh, for a diploma it was Rs 1 lakh and other certifications were even issued at Rs 75,000,” said an official with FIW.

A staff at the magazine said Maheshwaran shifted to their premises only three months ago. “He was part of a media association and requested that he needed a temporary office space. None of us were aware that he was running such a racket inside that room,” the magazine staff told DT Next. “We were shocked to see the Police commissioner showing forged Aadhaar cards as some of the seized items,” the magazine staff said.

Police sources said a small-time magazine even gave the institute an award in 2020. Investigators suspect Maheshwaran to have issued fake and forged certificates to at least 1,000 persons so far. Apart from computers and printing materials, police seized 500 fake educational documents, both filled and unfilled, from the ‘University’.

“We will be moving the court to take the accused under custody to get further details about the racket,” said a senior city police officer. On asked whether Maheshwaran’s educational credentials were genuine or from his IISTR, the official said the mastermind of the racket did his Masters in Business Administration from a private university in Avadi.

Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore issued medals to the special team who busted the racket at an event held at the Commissionerate on Saturday.