US: Indian Student Fakes Father's Death To Secure College Seat, Deported

In an investigation by Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Indian student Aryan Anand was found guilty of falsifying numerous documents before his admission to the university. These documents were also the basis for which he was given a full scholarship for the course in which he was enrolled before necessary actions were taken against him.

What triggered the investigation?

The investigation was initiated after a post by Anand on Reddit was flagged by a platform moderator which brought it to the notice of university officials. The post titled, ''I have built my life and career on lies,'' has now been deleted. The moderator probably knew who to notify since Anand only followed one university, Lehigh itself, from his account.

A user of X shared screenshots of Aryan's entire Reddit post on the platform.

recently an indian student was deported from us because he forged the transcripts, rec letters, achievements, state exam results, and sent them through a school domain he bought to apply to college

he was granted nearly a full scholarship at a top college but decided it wasn't… pic.twitter.com/Rz91GUqrtL

— anpaure (@anpaure) June 28, 2024

Northhampton County Assistant D.A. Michael Weinert told 6ABC, ''It was really difficult to really verify these things. I think that was great work by Lehigh and their police force. They were able to really dig deep and find all this was really false.''

It was found that the transcripts, financial statements, and essays that were a part of Anand's application were all falsified. He admitted to altering his 10 and 12 grade board marks and even submitting a forged death certificate of his father, who is still alive, all of which was proved by the Reddit post. Essentially, his entire application was fabricated with care. He even used ChatGPT to write his essays, help him pass his university exams, and to score internships in the States.

Consequences

Anand was arrested two months ago and faced up to 20 years in prison for felony counts of forgery and theft of services, reported 6ABC. However, at the request of university officials, he was expelled and deported to India instead. He will now not receive any prison time but will be expelled from Lehigh and deported.

Lehigh University released a statement saying, ''We appreciate the report to our ethics hotline and the diligent investigation by the Lehigh University Police Department that led to Aryan Anand's arrest."