Hyderabad: Seven more individuals were arrested by Hyderabad Police on Monday in a case related to the issuance of fake degree certificates by Sarvepalli Radhakrishna University (SRK) located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, 10 people were arrested in the case.
The seven new arrests include Saigautam, Ritesh Reddy, Venkatasai Rohit, Manna Wilfred, Suryateja, and Tummala Saiteja, all students of the university, apart from Veerannaswamy - the owner of an education consultancy company named VS Global Educational Services - who supplied the certificates.
Eeda Vijaykumar, originally a resident of Anakapalli in Andhra Pradesh, was an assistant professor in the university and was identified as the mastermind behind the entire operation. The move was aimed at increasing admissions in engineering and degree courses. Vijaykumar is currently at large.
There were separate price ranges based on the types of degrees involved. Engineering degrees cost Rs 3 lakhs, while M.C.A and M.Sc degrees were priced anywhere between Rs 1.5 - 2.5 lakhs. Other degrees were offered at a price of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
As per information, Vijaykumar collected information about students with poor educational performance, dropouts, and those with the significant backlog, before approaching them with offers to issue certificates in exchange for a price.
