Thane, Jan 19 (PTI) The head of a paramedical college and four others were arrested in connection with a fake educational certificates case, Thane police said Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Deepak Deoraj said the four persons had procured forged Class X and XII certificates, based on which they then obtained pharmacy certificates.

The four chemists then used these fraudulently obtained pharmacy certificates to obtain pharmacist licences from the Food and Drug Administration, the DCP said.

He said the pharmacy certificates were issued by arrested accused Purshottam Tahilramani, head of the NETT Paramedical College here.

Deoraj said Tahilramani arranged these certificates for sums ranging from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

He identified the arrested "chemists" as Arvind Bhat, Raju Yadav, Budharam Ajeniya and Balwantsingh Chouhan.

He said a case of cheating and forgery had been registered against the accused in Kapurbawadi police station.

The official said a police probe was on to find out if more people had obtained such licences from the accused using this modus operandi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)