Hard discs helped in unravelling scam: DGP
Police chief says accused accumulated assets worth more than ₹400 crore by selling fake degrees
SHIMLA: A day after the Enforcement Directorate attached properties worth ₹194.17 crore of Raj Kumar Rana, the chairman of Solanbased Manav Bharati University (MBU), in the fake degree scam, Himachal Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Kundu on Saturday said over a dozen hard discs recovered by the investigators proved vital in cracking the case.
Kundu said that it was the biggest ever scam in the history of Himachal Pradesh to date.
During the course of the investigation, Kundu said, it was found that more than 36,000 fake degrees were sold by the accused. A total of 275 people were questioned, eight arrested and 75 addresses were identified. “The 14 of the 55 hard discs seized by the SIT proved vital in the investigation and 36,000 fake degrees were found,” he said.
The DGP said as per the announcement of chief minister, a special investigation team was formed under additional director general of police (ADGP) N Venugopal, while
Ranjana Chauhan was the chief investigating officer. The SIT cracked the case within a year’s time.
“It involved major investigation as large-scale conspiracy was there and it involved huge monetary transactions. Raids were conducted across the country to identify the beneficiaries of fake degrees,” said Kundu.
He said the main accused Rana, a resident of Karnal in Haryana, had also set up Madhav University in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
“On the basis of the investigation conducted by the SIT, the ED attached Rana and his kin’s land, residential house, commercial building in Himachal and Rajasthan and fixed deposits worth more than ₹7 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,” he said.
Kundu said the accused had accumulated assets worth more than ₹400 crore by selling fake degrees. Rana’s wife and daughter were also involved in the scam and they fled to Australia.