Fake certificate racket busted in Kerala's Kasaragod, three arrested
The Hosdurg police have uncovered a racket based in Kanhangad in Kasaragod, Kerala, involving the fabrication and distribution of fake certificates and identification documents.
Three individuals were arrested in connection with the racket, which allegedly produced forged university certificates, Aadhaar cards, passports, international driving licences and work experience documents.
The arrested have been identified as K. Santhosh (45), owner of a computer centre in Puthiyakotta, P. Raveendran (51), a native of South Kanhangad currently residing in Muzhakoth, Cheruvathur and H.K. Shihab (38).
The arrests were made following a coordinated operation led by DySP Babu Peringeth and sub inspectors T. Akhil and Sharangdharan. Acting on a tip-off, the police carried out searches at multiple locations, including the suspects' houses and the premises of the computer centre.
Over a thousand counterfeit documents, hard disks, mobile phones and computers were seized during the raids. At Shihab's residence, the police discovered printers, blank certificates and stacks of special paper used to mimic official documents.
In a parallel raid at Raveendran's house, led by Cheemeni Inspector Anil Kumar, more forged materials and equipment were recovered.
According to Mr. Peringeth, the trio formed a well-oiled unit with defined roles. Raveendran, an experience DTP operator, was responsible for crafting the fake documents using digital editing tools. Once prepared, the documents were printed and processed at Shihab's house, who also took charge of distributing them to customers. Santhosh, the owner of the establishment, reportedly provided the infrastructure and was fully aware of the operation.
'The volume of forged materials seized and the variety of documents produced suggest that this is not a one-off incident. It is a deep-rooted racket with possible connections outside the district,' said Mr. Peringeth.
He added that detailed questioning of the accused is ongoing and more arrests are likely as the investigation progresses.
Th police suspect that the racket was operating for several years and may have catered to clients across the State and even outside Kerala, offering on-demand fake documents for academic, employment and immigration purposes.
The arrested individuals are set to be produced in court on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the police are combing through seized data and communications to identify potentials clients and collaborators.
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