Bihar Agriculture University fraud: Warrant issued against MLA

Bhagalpur: A local court on Friday issued a warrant of arrest against former Bihar Agriculture University (BAU) VC Mewalal Choudhary in connection with alleged irregularities in the appointment of 161 assistant professors and junior scientists in the university at Sabour in 2012.
Choudhary, a JD (U) MLA who has since been suspended by the ruling party, is the main accused in the FIR lodged in this connection.The case is being probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Bhagalpur police.
Bhagalpur SSP Manoj Kumar said the SIT would soon write to the regional passport office to impound Choudhary’s passport as it feared he might flee from the country.
Choudhary’s anticipatory bail petition was rejected by the court of Bhagalpur ADJ Rakesh Malviya on Tuesday.
Choudhary was the BAU VC from 2010 to 2015 before he was elected MLA from Tarapur (Munger). The constituency was represented by his wife Neeta Choudhary from 2010 to 2015.
The FIR was lodged against against Choudhary in the Sabour police station under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC following a directive from the office of the chancellor-cum governor of the state.
Earlier, a probe committee constituted at the chancellor’s behest found that merit (written scores and academic achievements) was ignored and favoured ones were awarded high marks in the interview in making the appointments in 2012.
The probe committee was headed by Justice (retd) Syed Mohammed Mahfooz Alam of the Patna high court.