Jaipur, Oct 11 (IANS): The Special Operation Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police has arrested Dinesh Jagrawal (50), former secretary of Taekwondo Association in the case of issuing fake sports certificates, said officials on Friday.

He is accused of distributing certificates for Rs one lakh each by preparing fake documents after manipulating the records. Government teachers Bimalendu Kumar Jha, Kamal Singh, Hitesh Bhadu and Manoj Kumar, who did the verification in the case, have already been arrested. Investigation is being done regarding the role of other employees.

Additional Director General (ADG) V.K. Singh of ATS-SOG said the then Secretary of Taekwondo Association Jagrawal, a resident of Suratgarh Sriganganagar was arrested on Thursday. He is a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) in Nasanwa Government School located in Laxmangarh, Sikar. Along with this, he has been the secretary of the Taekwondo Association.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) SOG Paris Deshmukh said, "The accused had issued fake certificates by manipulating the records of people who had previously played Taekwondo. In return, accused Dinesh Jagrawal had taken Rs one lakh each from the candidates. When people who got government jobs after submitting fake certificates demanded their verification, Bimalesh refused."

"When the candidates gave Bimalesh more money, he created a fake email in the name of Taekwondo of India and verified all the fake certificates. Now SOG is verifying the fake certificates made by the accused by inquiring about them. Also, SOG is investigating that apart from PTI recruitment, for which other recruitment candidates had the accused made fake certificates," said the DIG.

The third and fourth Bhagwan Mahavir Open State Championship of Taekwondo was held in 2017-18. Dinesh was the secretary of Rajasthan Taekwondo Association at that time and after getting recognition from the Indian Federation, the championship was held for two consecutive years. In 2017, this championship was held at Rajasthan University (RU), while in 2018 it was held at Sawai Mansingh (SMS) Stadium. About 4,000 players participated in 2017 and 3,000 in 2018. Offline certificates were issued in both years. A large number of fake certificates were also issued then.

The verification of the certificates was done by Dinesh as secretary. In return, he took Rs one lakh each. The certificates issued to the players were illegal and on the basis of these many got PTI jobs. After this, Taekwondo matches were made online.

The Rajasthan Taekwondo Association said that the Federation of India conducted elections for the association on June 22, 2023. Then Laxman Singh Hada of Kota was elected Secretary and Uttam Saini of Alwar was elected President. They are recognised by the Indian Olympic Association and Rajasthan Association.

Since the Taekwondo Association has been in controversy, the Indian Taekwondo Association did not give recognition for the championship after 2018. The Indian Taekwondo Association formed an ad hoc committee, which later conducted elections.