A representational photo of handcuffs
Pune: Fourteen of 19 newly recruited constables have been arrested in the fake Kurash sports certificate case over the last two days, the city police said. The Pune Crime Branch has arrested 24 people so far in the case, including the most recent arrests. Last year, during the Pune city police recruitment drive, 19 candidates allegedly submitted fake certificates.
We have launched a search for them.
Gauhar Hasan, deputy commissioner of police (crime), told TOI , “We are investigating the role of govt officials who validated these certificates as genuine. We also wrote to various police units across the state providing details of these constables who submitted fake Kurash certificates to secure constable jobs under sports quota,” he said. These certificates help candidates secure sports quotas in govt jobs. As far as these constables go, they were undergoing training, and we have arrested them. Initially, they claimed that their certificates were genuine. However, we investigated and informed them that their certificates were fake and arrested them from different police training facilities across the state. “Five newly recruited constables have fled from the training facilities.
Shivajinagar police had registered a case on Sept 3, prompting an investigation by the crime branch. The 19 new recruits were named in the case. As per the investigation, the accused allegedly prepared and issued around 1,500 Kurash sports certificates to candidates aspiring to secure govt jobs between 2016 and 2023.
Five of these constables had fled their training facilities before the arrests.