Bhubaneswar, March 28 -- Tightening its noose around Manoj Mishra, the mastermind of the fake educational certificate racket in Bolangir district, the police have started the process of freezing his bank account.

Bolangir Police on Monday informed that 21 people including Mishra, who owned a private coaching centre, 'Reliance Education Institute' have so far been arrested in connection with the fake certificate racket.

During the raid, the police stumbled upon over 1000 fake certificates in the name of 41 reputed universities. The fake certificates, verification reports, seals, diaries and rubber stamps, mobile phones, bank accounts and land documents were seized. Besides, the raid team also seized Rs 3.67 lakh in cash from the possessi...