Police said they received information on Wednesday morning that one Abhimanyu Manjrekar (21) was dealing in fake degrees and marksheets from a printing press at Parel. On raiding the place, police found dozens of fake degrees and marksheets, some of which had names on them and others that didn't. Two computers, three printers, rubber stamps and many floppy discs that contained programs to make fake degrees were also found.

During interrogation, Manjrekar revealed he had been given orders for printing these fake degrees by one Maruti Naik, the kingpin behind this racket, according to Dilip Srirao, deputy commissioner of police (zone 3). Police then raided Naik's 10-room flat at Byculla and foundseveral fake degrees, marksheets, certificates, transfer certificates, leaving certificates and even migration certificates.

Inquiries revealed Naik used to place advertisments in prominent newspapers in which he used to offer to help students who had failed in the tenth or twelfth standard and who wanted to be doctors, engineers, architects, pharmacists, teachers, advocates and management experts, he explained. True to his word, he could offer any degree to those who approached him with a desire to join any of these professions without having passed a single exam, he said. Various amounts were charged for various degrees, he added.

Naik has been involved in this business for seven to eight years, and there is no way to find out how many fake degrees and marksheets he may have issued so far, Srirao said. Police are trying to see if there is any record of the people who have been given these degrees, because those persons must have used the fake documents either to get jobs or admissions for futurecourses, he said. These degrees were of universities and boards of Mumbai, Kerala, Pune, Baroda, Patna and several noted colleges in the city, he said.

Senior inspector OP Jedhia said Naik had even got his son Vinayak a fake marksheet, and the latter has also been arrested for his role in the racket. It is possible that Naik could be placing orders with other persons to print the fake degrees, and police are making further investigations, he said. In the last few years, Naik had started living a lavish lifestyle and started a chemist shop, a STD/ISD centre and a masala shop, he said.

Police have also arrested three others, Kiran More, Harish Chandra Dabholkar and Deepak Babshetty, for their role in the racket, he said. They have all been arrested under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 472, 473 and 584 of the Indian Penal Code and placed in police custody till July 3.