A 28-year-old student from Telangana was deported from the United States after immigration authorities flagged his inactive SEVIS status and uncovered forged academic documents. The student’s arrest in India led to a larger revelation: an overseas education consultancy allegedly involved in fabricating degree certificates for dozens of students seeking to study abroad.
A Dream Turns Into a Legal Nightmare
In the final week of May, US immigration officials at Dallas airport detained a returning Indian student after discovering that his SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) status was inactive, a red flag that ultimately led to the unravelling of an interstate visa racket.
The 28-year-old student, a native of Nalgonda district in Telangana and a master’s student at Webster University, Missouri, had returned from India only to be deported before re-entry into the U.S. The cause: fake B.Sc. Computer Science certificates that were allegedly used to obtain his visa in September 2023.
Upon his landing at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on June 1, he was detained and interrogated by immigration authorities. The student confessed to using forged academic credentials supplied by a Hyderabad-based overseas education consultancy, prompting a formal police complaint.
From Office to Interrogation Room: Consultancy Head in Custody
The probe led authorities to the managing director of the consultancy firm, who was apprehended on June 2. A raid on the office revealed a variety of evidence: multiple forged certificates from various Indian universities and ₹10 lakh in cash.
The director, during interrogation, reportedly admitted to facilitating the overseas education of 15 students in the last five years using fabricated degree certificates. These documents, police say, were instrumental in securing admissions and visas under false pretences.
The firm, posing as a legitimate education consultancy, allegedly specialized in bypassing the stringent academic verification systems used by international universities.
A Broader Network Under the Scanner
Officials now believe this could be the tip of the iceberg in a larger fraudulent network. It was stated by the concerned officials that the student had stayed in the US for a year before returning to India for five months. On his return, immigration officials noticed discrepancies and inactive student status. That triggered a deeper look.
Police have registered cases of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy against both the student and the consultancy MD. The documents seized will be sent for forensic analysis, and immigration authorities in both India and the U.S. are expected to coordinate for a wider investigation into similar fraudulent applications.
About the author – Prakriti Jha is a student at National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, currently pursuing B.Sc. LL.B (Hons.) with a keen interest in the intersection of law and data science. She is passionate about exploring how legal frameworks adapt to the evolving challenges of technology and justice.