Players compete in a Kurash wrestling match
Satpute said, “As many as 19 police constables currently undergoing training had produced Kurash certificates to secure jobs with the Pune City police. The police are trying to ascertain how many of the more than 1,000 certificates distributed by the association were used to secure govt jobs, how many candidates availed themselves of the sports quota and how many of them are currently employed in govt service. ” The crime branch is investigating how the fake certificate racket was operated, who assisted in running it, what documents were prepared to show that competitions had been held on paper and at what level efforts were made to obtain govt recognition for the certificates.
Satpute said, “We suspect that the fake Kurash certificates were not used only for police recruitment but may also have been used in the recruitment of Grade I, Grade II and other posts in various state govt departments. The police have now begun verifying how many people secured jobs in various state govt departments using these certificates and how many candidates availed themselves of the sports quota across the state. Last week, the crime branch arrested Maharashtra State Kurash Association president Ankush Nagar and secretary Shivaji Salunkhe in connection with the case. They had also obtained validity for these certificates. We will verify their validity once again. The police face the challenge of obtaining details of all certificates distributed by the association and verifying each of them.
Additional commissioner of police (crime) Tejaswi Satpute and deputy commissioner of police (crime) Gauhar Hasan shared details of the investigation on Tuesday evening.
Maharashtra Kurash Association Under Investigation for Fake Certificates
The Pune City crime branch has uncovered a widespread racket involving the issuance of over 1,000 fake certificates for the Kurash sport, a traditional form of wrestling. The investigation indicates that officials from the Maharashtra State Kurash Association have been distributing these certificates since 2016 to individuals who did not participate in actual competitions, falsely representing them as sportspersons.
These fraudulent certificates were reportedly used to gain advantages in recruitment processes for various state government departments, where a 5% reservation is allocated for recognized sportspersons. Police spokesperson Satpute emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating, “The investigation revealed that certificates were issued to people who had not actually participated in Kurash competitions, showing them as sportspersons.”