Thiruvananthapuram: The Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Technological University at Lonere in Maharashtra has confirmed that the BCom degree Swapna Suresh, the prime suspect in the diplomatic baggage gold smuggling case, had submitted for a job at Air India SATS and other places is fake.

The police had seized the degree certificate as part of their investigations into a false sexual harassment case Swapna had filed against an officer at Air India SATS.

The Kerala IT Infrastructure had also given Swapna a job at Space Park based on this degree certificate.

Swapna was not a student of the university and neither the university nor the colleges under it offer BCom course, its Controller of Examinations Dr Vivek S Sathe told Manorama.

The signature and seal on the certificate are forged and there are no security stamps either on it, he said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the firm that had cleared Swapna’s application for the Space Park job, claimed that the agency that was assigned to do her  background check had said nothing was amiss. 

The agency had also said that Swapna had no case against her in the country, even though she was being investigated by the crime branch in the Air India SATS case.

Swapna, who has been on the run since Sunday when the diplomatic baggage with 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was seized at the Trivandrum International Airport, has claimed she had no role in the case and that she was being framed.

She said she was in hiding fearing those behind the smuggling racket.

Swapna has moved the Kerala high court seeking anticipatory bail.

Swapna's brother Bright Suresh, who is based in the US, had told Manorama News that he is not sure if Swapna had completed Class X or obtained any other higher education.