Banswara police arrested three men, including two government physical training instructors (PTIs), on Friday for their involvement in a fake degree racket. The accused, Manish Kumar and Kamlesh Patidar, secured government PTI positions using forged BPEd (Bachelor of Physical Education) degrees, while Pramod Kumar allegedly facilitated the arrangement of these fake certificates.
The case emerged following complaints about fake degrees used in recruitment. A senior police officer conducted a thorough investigation, uncovering irregularities in PTI recruitments held in 2018 and 2022. Banswara Superintendent of Police Harish Agarwalla confirmed the arrests after official verification revealed the degrees to be counterfeit.
Manish Kumar, a resident of Partapur in Banswara, submitted a forged BPEd degree purportedly issued by Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, in 2012 when applying for the PTI recruitment exam. After passing the exam conducted by the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board, he was appointed PTI at Govt Upper Primary School, Napla, in Chhoti Sarwan Panchayat Samiti.
Similarly, Kamlesh Patidar, from Bodia village under Garhi Police Station, used a fake 2013 degree from the same university for the 2018 recruitment and was posted as PTI at Govt Upper Primary School, Garadiya, in Sajjangarh Panchayat Samiti.
During interrogation, both Manish and Kamlesh admitted to obtaining the fake degrees through known contacts. One such contact was identified as Pramod Kumar Modi, 36, of Gadhi, who admitted to arranging fake BPEd degrees but did not apply for government jobs himself.
Verification by Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University confirmed that the degrees submitted by Manish and Kamlesh were not authentic and did not match university records. All three are in custody and being interrogated further as the investigation continues.
