Vigilance tightens noose around tainted MU VC

PATNA: The

Magadh University

(MU) has submitted files related to alleged unauthorised financial transactions and ‘backdoor’ appointments made at the instance of scam-tainted vice-chancellor Rajendra Prasad to Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) for investigation.

On Monday, the SVU had arrested MU registrar Pushpendra Prasad Verma, proctor Jainandan Prasad Singh, library incharge Vinod Kumar and VC’s personal assistant Subodh Kumar for their alleged involvement in the Rs30-crore scam. They were forwarded to judicial custody on Tuesday.

Sources said files related to at least 12 illegal appointments, including the appointment of an assistant professor, have been submitted to SVU. All the appointees are from Uttar Pradesh, the home state of the VC. The SVU sleuths had raided the VC’s residence at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on November 17.

“Some of the new recruits stayed in the varsity guesthouse for more than a year for free,” sources said.

Besides purchase of books worth Rs 1.16 and e-books worth Rs 2.5 crore without any tender, at least 15 lakh answer booklets were also purchased from a private firm sans tender at Rs 75 lakh, the sources added.

A senior bureaucrat said after SVU raids against the VC, a person sent documents, including official letters and RTI replies from five varsities in the state and one from Jharkhand, to a large number of officers and ministers in Bihar, Jharkhand and Centre, alleging that a Delhi-based publishing house owned by two brothers is also involved in the scam.

The SVU had conducted raids against Prasad on November 16 and unearthed Rs 3 crore disproportionate assets amassed by him. Several files, Rs 90 lakh in cash, foreign currencies and jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh were seized from his residence.