It was no mean achievement for a man who rose from being part-time driver to Assistant Registrar to shell out Rs 7 lakh at the blink of an eyelid. The act speaks volumes of the kind of money that flows through the university examination system.

Skeletons will now tumble out of the cupboard. University players right from some `respected' teachers to high-ranking officials are reportedly getting the jitters about whose name will spill out of Kohchade's mouth.

Sources in the university, a bit emboldened by the arrest yet pleading anonymity, said that Kohchade was the prime mover in a big racket. And, it is not just that criminal or anti-social elements were involved in acquiring fake marksheets or degrees and getting marks illegallyincreased.

Some teachers, who like to play politics more than teach, were his regular `customers.' They would use him to get marks increased for the sons and daughters of netas and other power-brokers on an ``I scratch your back, you scratch mine...'' basis.

Names on the list of perpetrators include a number of members of important bodies of the university. The involvement of other university officials is also not ruled out because otherwise such a massive racket would not have flourished. A senior official said, members of the ring had succeeded in making copies of the computer floppies of the blank degree certificates and marksheets. It would then have been easy to sell fake degrees and marksheets filling in names and marks as desired. The official said, Kohchade was entrusted with countersigning the degrees on the reverse to endorse their authenticity.

Members of the ring are also said to have been regularly taking the tabulation registers home on the pretext of putting in extra work for theuniversity. They carefully preserved the pens and ink with which the marks had originally been entered so as to be able to make changes later.

Interestingly, over the past few years Kohchade had been felicitated by several local organisations and clubs for his `outstanding' achievements in life. A little over a fortnight back, a `group of researchers' led by Dr Vilas Tabhane, a Reader in Physics in the Institute of Science, had honoured Kohchade for ``securing a respectable position in the society despite all odds.''