Bhopal: Higher education department forms panel to probe SRKU fraud degree case

BHOPAL: A day after the arrest of the vice chancellor and former VC of

SRK University

, Bhopal by Hyderabad cops for their alleged involvement in issuing fraudulent degree certificate, the higher education department of

Madhya Pradesh

has constituted a high-level inquiry committee.

Surprisingly, the Madhya Pradesh Private Universities Regulatory Commission, the regulatory body of private universities, has not issued a single notice to the SRK University in this regard even three months after the racket was busted.

On Tuesday, a special investigation team (SIT) of Hyderabad Central Crime Station arrested

SRKU

vice-chancellor Dr M Prashant Pillai and former VC Dr S S Kushwah from Bhopal. Earlier, Hyderabad police had arrested an assistant professor of SRKU, Ketan Singh, in the case. Chairman, MP Private Universities Regulatory Commission, Bharat Sharan Singh told TOI, “This is a serious matter and it should be investigated thoroughly. The higher education department has formed a high-level committee to probe the matter. Committee members included a representative from the commission also,” said Singh.

Asked as to why the commission has not issued any notice to the SRK even after several arrests is the case, chairman Singh said, “Hyderabad police are investigating the matter. We will take action. Let the police conclude their investigation.”

In February, Hyderabad police busted an inter-state fraudulent degree certificate racket involving education consultants from Hyderabad and the staff of SRKU and Swami Vivekananda University in Madhya Pradesh and Glocal University of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Police seized some distance education certificates issued by Tamil Nadu-based Madurai Kamraj University and University of Madras.

Since 2017, SRKU issued 101 fake degrees; 44 seized: Police officials say that since 2017, SRKU had issued 101-degree certificates to students through fraudulent means, and 44 of those were seized from the students. Of these, 13 were engineering degrees and the remaining 31 were of other courses like MBA and BSc.

"The accused issued degree certificates to students, who were never on the rolls of SRKU, for money," said the police.

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