UP: Fake marksheets, degrees recovered from private university in Hapur; chairman arrested

HAPUR: A large number of fake marksheets and degrees were recovered from a private university in Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh during a raid by a team of the UP Special Task Force, police sources said on Sunday.

The STF arrested 10 persons, including university chairman, Vijendra Singh Hooda, and other staff -- Mukesh Thakur, Anil Batra, Nitin Kumar Singh, Gaurav Sharma, Sunny Kashyap, Imran, Kuldeep, Vipul Talyan and Sandeep Sehrawat -- following the raid late on Saturday evening, they said.

During interrogation, they allegedly confessed to charging Rs 50 thousand to Rs 4 lakh per marksheet, police said. Important documents, computers and other items were confiscated in Saturday's raid at Monad University in Pilkhuwa. The STF team took computers and documents into custody and interrogated the owner and staff and investigated for about five hours.

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An FIR was lodged under BNS sections 318(4) (cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security), 340 (1) (forged documents), 111 (organised crime) and 336 (3) (forgery). The accused were produced in a court and sent to jail, they said. In a statement issued in Lucknow on Saturday, ADG STF Amitabh Yash said, "In the course of investigation of an application, action was taken by the STF Lucknow Headquarters team at Monad University, Hapur today on May 17.

"A large number of fake mark sheets, degrees etc. were recovered, in which about a dozen people were detained, which included the university chairperson and main accused Vijendra Singh Hooda", he said.