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.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. Five of these constables had fled their training facilities before the arrests.These certificates help candidates secure sports quotas in govt jobs. The Pune Crime Branch has arrested 24 people so far in the case, including the most recent arrests.Several officials of the Maharashtra State Kurash Association, which governs and certifies participants in Kurash, an ancient Central Asian wrestling sport, were also named in the case. They include its president, Ankush Vitthal Nagar, and its secretary, Shivaji Jaywant Salunkhe.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.Last year, during the Pune city police recruitment drive, 19 candidates allegedly submitted fake certificates. Gauhar Hasan, deputy commissioner of police (crime), told TOI, “We are investigating the role of govt officials who validated these certificates as genuine. 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. We have launched a search for them. 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.“Moreover, there is a possibility that candidates may have used such certificates to secure govt jobs in other departments as well. We will soon write to other govt departments to check whether anyone has joined their department or service with a fake Kurash certificate,” Hasan said.
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