Hyderabad: Two individuals have been arrested by Hyderabad police for allegedly being involved in a fake educational certificate racket. A total of 36 fake certificates from various universities and two mobile phones were seized.

The accused have been identified as Syed Imran, alias Professor Zaker, 40, a home tutor from Talabkatta, and Mohd Khader, alias Junaid, 27, an unemployed youth from First Lancer. They were caught near Chacha Nehru Park, Masab Tank, while handing over the forged documents.

According to the police, Imran was the key player behind the racket, supplying fake educational certificates, while Khader was one of the clients who had procured a forged degree to pursue education abroad. Having dropped out of BTech in 2016, Khader approached Imran and paid Rs 80,000 for a counterfeit BBA degree certificate from Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.

During interrogation, Imran revealed that he operated the racket in coordination with a Delhi-based associate, Rohan alias Shyamlal, a resident of Najfgarh. Imran would collect personal details and payments from aspiring candidates and forward them to Rohan via WhatsApp. Rohan, in turn, fabricated fake certificates from various universities and sent the hard copies to Imran through courier, which were then delivered to the clients.

A case has been registered, and efforts are underway to trace and apprehend Rohan, who remains absconding.

Further investigation is ongoing.