NAAC inspection committee chairman, JNU professor among 10 held by CBI for graft

NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested the chairman and six members of a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection committee, including a JNU professor, in a corruption case on Saturday, officials said. Those arrested also include the vice chancellor of the Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur and two more executives, they said.

President of the Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur Koneru Satyanarayana, NAAC former deputy adviser L Manjunatha Rao, professor and director (IQAC-NAAC), Bangalore University M Hanumanthappa, and NAAC adviser M S Shyamsundar have also been named as accused in the FIR, the CBI said. However, they have not been arrested so far, it added.

In an operation, the CBI has arrested G P Saradhi Varma, the KLEF vice chancellor, Koneru Raja Hareen, vice president of the KLEF, A Ramakrishna, director of K L University, Hyderabad Campus for their alleged involvement in bribing the members of an NAAC inspection committee for getting A++ accreditation, they said.

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NAAC committee chairman arrested

The agency has arrested the chairman of the NAAC inspection committee, Samarendra Nath Saha, who is also the vice-chancellor of the Ramchandra Chandravansi University. Committee members Rajeev Sijariya, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, D. Gopal, dean of Bharath Institute of Law, Rajesh Singh Pawar, dean of Jagran Lakecity University, Manas Kumar Mishra, director of G L Bajaj Institute of Technology & Management, Gayathri Devaraja, professor at Davangere University and Bulu Maharana, professor at Sambalpur University, have also been arrested, they said.

The CBI registered a case and conducted searches during which "alleged undue advantage paid to the NAAC inspection team members by the office bearers of said educational foundation, in the form of cash, gold, mobile phones and laptops" was recovered, a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. The agency said searches are being conducted at 20 locations across India in Chennai, Bangalore, Vijaywada, Palamu, Sambalpur, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Gautam Budh Nagar and New Delhi. "An amount of Rs 37 lakh in cash, six Lenovo laptops, one iPhone 16 pro mobile phone and other incriminating articles have been recovered," the spokesperson said.