Student fakes father’s death to obtain US scholarship

An Indian student was arrested and deported from the United States after he was found of falsifying documents to obtain a full US scholarship.

The student, identified as Aryan Anand, had confessed in a now-deleted Reddit post that he had fabricated documents including transcripts, essays, and even the death certificate of his father who was alive and living in India, an Indian media outlet reported.

Anand, who was studying at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, had boasted about building “his life and career on lies” in the post, which was later flagged by a Reddit moderator.

The Indian student had also created a fake email address to correspond with the US university in the guise of his school principal to secure a US scholarship.

Following his revelations, the Reddit moderator began a background check on Aryan Anand and discovered that he was a student of Lehigh University.

The anonymous moderator then contacted the Lehigh University which, in collaboration with local police, initiated an investigation.

Anand was arrested on April 30 and was charged with forgery and theft of services.

He could have faced up to 20 years in prison under the US criminal law, however, the university officials requested the authorities to deport him to India following his expulsion from the varsity.

Reacting to the shocking incident, Lehigh University said in a statement, “We appreciate the report and the thorough investigation that brought this matter to light.”

Northampton County Assistant DA, Michael Weinert said, “The defendant only had one other university that he followed, which was Lehigh University. So, the moderator reached out to Lehigh to give them a heads up.”

He also appreciated the university for conducting thorough investigation before taking any action against the Indian student.

“It was challenging to verify the facts, but Lehigh and their police force did an excellent job of digging deep and uncovering the truth,” Weinert said.