Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 17
Five persons were arrested in a fake certificate racketeering case in Dimapur. Among the arrested included a 20 year-old woman, who attempted to get admission to a school in Dimapur using forged educational documents.
The case came to light on May 13 when East Police Station received an FIR about the receipt of a doubtful class 10 pass certificate by a school in Dimapur. The FIR was lodged by the principal of the school (name withheld).
According to the police, the school received an application from a student seeking admission to class 11 for the academic session 2016-17. Along with the application, a class 10 pass certificate purportedly issued by the NBSE and Transfer and Character certificates bearing the school principal’s signature and seal were also submitted by the applicant. The police said that scrutiny of the documents revealed it were of doubtful origin as the applicant’s roll number as entered in the pass certificate clashed with that of another who had passed out of the school.
The school subsequently informed the police resulting in the arrest of the woman on May 13 and four others, from whom the woman procured the forged certificates. The four were identified as Yankiu Yimchung, Thrilongba Sangtam, Lichotri Sangtam and Daniel Aye.
Yankiu and Thrilongba were arrested on May 14 from Kohima and were followed by the arrest of Lichotri, stated to be the main accused, on May 15 in Dimapur. Daniel, who was arrested today from Midland, according to the police, was the one responsible for crafting and printing the counterfeit certificates.
As per the investigation, the student approached Yankiu to help her get a class 10 pass certificate. The latter in turn approached Thrilongba, who procured the certificate from Lichotri. The student reportedly paid Rs. 20,000 to the three.
The police further confiscated an assortment of “unauthorised seals”, a desktop set, a polymer machine and more fake documents from the residence of Lichotri at Oriental colony. Among the confiscated certificates included forged NU mark sheets and admit cards and provisional transfer certificate bearing the name of a Shillong-based college.
Without ruling out the possibility of it being part of a larger network, police said that investigation is continuing headed by investigation officer Mhasievolie Chadi.
