The fake degree scam was unearthed in February this year after the University Grants Commission (UGC) received an anonymous complaint about the alleged sale of more than five lakh degrees by two private universities in HP, MBU in Solan and APG in Shimla
Private university in HP sold 45,000 fake degrees, reveals SIT probe
Each degree related to technical subjects was sold to students within and outside Himachal Pradesh for ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakh, says crime investigation department official
By Gaurav Bisht, Shimla
PUBLISHED ON DEC 24, 2020 06:56 PM IST
A special investigating team (SIT) comprising officials from the income tax department, enforcement directorate, Himachal Police and crime investigation department (CID) have unearthed evidence in an education scam of Solan- based private university, Manav Bharti (MBU), selling more than 45,000 fake degrees.
“The number of fake degrees can vary. We presume it’s much higher. It’s a very well organised racket which was being run for the last one decade,” said additional director general (ADG) of police,” CID, N Venugopal, on Thursday.
The probe revealed that each degree related to technical subjects was sold to students within and outside Himachal Pradesh (HP) for ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakh, he added.
The SIT team also rounded up a Jammu based agent of the university who struck deals locally for selling the fake degrees.
The sleuths found that the manager of MBU sold degrees outside the state through ‘agents’ who in return got handsome commissions. In a majority of cases the buyers paid cash for degrees to these agents who provided details of the candidates to the university for making the fake degrees.
SIT sent sleuths to seven different states, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Visits were also made to Jammu, Delhi, Chandigarh and Kashmir to trace the whereabouts of the agents.
MBU, the probe found, enrolled more than 95,000 students in different courses.
Arrests made
The SIT in June arrested MBU chairman Raj Kumar Rana after the HP high court refused to grant him anticipatory bail.
Rana was arrested on the court premises as soon as his bail plea was rejected.
He was taken to Solan for interrogation. Earlier in that week,SIT had arrested a former registrar of the university, KK Singh. Two university officials, registrar Anupama Thakur and assistant registrar Munish Goel, were arrested in March.
The fake degree scam was unearthed in February this year after the University Grants Commission (UGC) received an anonymous complaint about the alleged sale of more than five lakh degrees by two private universities in HP, MBU in Solan and APG in Shimla.
The UGC then apprised the state government of the matter and sought appropriate action against the institutes.
A case under sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the university officials for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy on March 3.
MBU was established in 2009 under the HP Private University (Establishment & Regulation) Act and is owned by the Manav Bharti Charitable Trust.
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