Balasore, Jan. 12: Two teachers were arrested yesterday for allegedly issuing fake educational certificates for job seekers.
The accused were identified as Umakanta Sahu, 44, cluster resource centre co-ordinator of Nilgiri block and Radhagobinda Maharana, 43, a teacher at Remuna.
They had been accused of supplying fake educational certificates to aspirants who were desperately seeking teaching jobs.
Several teachers were terminated from their service after their certificates were found fake during verifications by the education department last year, said a police source.
Two of the teachers - Karunakar Swain, posted at UGME School in Kathpal and Paresh Parida of UGME School at Mundagara Sahi - were expelled last year for producing forged BEd certificates from one Mahabir Academy, supposed to be affiliated to a university in Calcutta.
The two teachers had allegedly obtained their certificates after giving Rs 65,000 each to Sahu and Maharana. After they were thrown out of their jobs, they had approached the two accused persons for cash refund and subsequently filed a complaint at a local court in the district. The court had directed the Industrial Area police station to investigate into the matter.
Paresh Rout, the inspector in charge of Industrial Area police station, said: "The retrenched teachers alleged they had paid Rs 65,000 each to the accused persons. Sahu is the mastermind of the racket. There could be more arrests in the case soon."