Manav Bharti University registrar held in fake degree scam

The Himachal Pradesh police on Friday arrested the registrar of Solan-based Manav Bharti University (MBU) in an alleged fake degree scam, taking the number of varsity officials held in the case to three.

Anupama Thakur, the registrar of the private university, was held after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a city court, Solan Superintendent of Police Abhishek Yadav said. Earlier the varsity's assistant registrar, Munish Goel, was arrested on March 8 and two days later, its data entry operator Pramod Kumar was nabbed from his native village in Haryana's Karnal district.

Goel and Kumar have been remanded to police custody till March 16, the SP said. He said the registrar will be produced before court on Saturday to seek her police custody. Yadav told PTI that the university's owner Raj Kumar Rana might also be arrested in the case. The SP said, "The fake degree scam is a huge one."

The officer further said he would be able to share the entire information about the scam after the investigation is complete. "At this point of time, I can only say that MBU has been found involved in fake degree scam since its establishment in Solan," Yadav said. MBU was established in 2009 under the Himachal Pradesh Private University (Establishment & Regulation) Act and is owned by Manav Bharti Charitable Trust.

Giving a statement in the state assembly during ongoing Budget session on Wednesday, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had said it was evident from the documents seized from the Solan university that they were playing with students' future by issuing fake degrees for long.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri on February 27 had pointed out that there were reports about the involvement of two private universities of the state in a fake degree scam. Replying to it, Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj had then said that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had received a complaint alleging that 18 private universities, including two in Himachal Pradesh, were selling fake degrees. The state police was probing the matter and strict action will be taken if any university is found selling fake degrees, he had added.