Probe into 2022 fake cert cases progress at snail’s pace, just 1 chargesheet in 3 years

Hyderabad: Though city police registered four cases related to procurement of academic degrees from various private universities in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh by city-based education consultancies for their clients, Special Investigation Team ( SIT), which has been probing these cases since 2022, managed to file a chargesheet in only one case. The investigation in three other cases, where the top management of Bhopal-based SRK University was allegedly involved, has not progressed much.

In 2022, the city police had registered four cases related to the procurement of academic degrees from private universities. Along with the consultants, students who obtained the certificates and even the vice-chancellor of SRK University in Bhopal were arrested.

The Malakpet, Asif Nagar, Musheerabad, and Chaderghat police registered a suo motu case each after raiding three educational consultancies and a private college in their jurisdictions between Feb 14 and 22, 2022. Police had caught education consultancy operators, students, and also claimed to have arrested SRK University faculty member Ketan Singh at Sri Sai Education Consultancy in Malakpet. Police seized certificates of SRK University in Bhopal, Swami Vivekananda University in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, and Glocal University in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, from the accused.

The cases were transferred to SIT in CCS the same month, as the certificates were allegedly issued by the university staff in collusion with the city-based consultancies for money.

Three years later, SIT managed to file a chargesheet in only one of the four cases. In that case, apart from G Maheshwar Rao, owner of Pride Educational Academy in Mehdipatnam, 10 others, including Swami Vivekananda University faculty members Pawan Kumar Srivatsava, Srikanth Sharan Pandey, Bhadri Vishal Tiwari, and Vishal Chowdhary, along with students who had obtained certificates, were chargesheeted on Oct 4, 2024. Although 24 Swami Vivekananda University degree certificates, eight SRKU, and four Glocal University certificates were also seized from Maheshwar Rao, none from those universities were chargesheeted.

In the remaining three cases, in which SRKU VC Dr M Prashant Pillai and their former VC SS Kushwaha were arrested in May 2022 along with several others, chargesheets were yet to be filed. In these three cases, only SRKU certificates were seized in possession of the education consultancy operators and the students. SRKU faculty Ketan Singh was named as an accused in the three cases.

Ketan was arrested by the Hyderabad police in the Malakpet case on Feb 14, 2022, but he challenged the arrest in the Jabalpur High Court, stating that Hyderabad police illegally picked him up from Bhopal on Feb 11 and later showed his arrest from Malakpet on Feb 14.

In its order on Oct 10, 2023, the court partly allowed the petition, calling the arrest illegal, directing that "evidence collected by Hyderabad police after making the illegal arrest of Ketan after Feb 11, 2022, shall not be used in evidence against the petitioner in the pending criminal trial. Said evidence includes the memorandum of confessional statement, enquiries done of petitioner, seizure panchanama, documents seized as a result of disclosure made by Ketan Singh, articles seized, cell phone, etc."

When contacted, an SIT official said, "Due to certain court orders, our investigation into the three remaining fake SRKU certificate cases got delayed. All the three cases are still under investigation and the accused are out on bail."