UP: Private university's chancellor, four others booked for issuing fake marksheets

FIROZABAD: The chancellor of a private university in Shikohabad here along with four others have been booked for allegedly issuing fake marksheets, following a complaint by a student, officials said on Wednesday.

On March 18, Bulandshahr resident Dipanshu Giri lodged a complaint at Shikohabad police station alleging that he and five other students had cleared multiple semesters of their BSc Agriculture course at JS University. However, they heard rumours that the marksheets might be fake, Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Akhilesh Bhadoria said.

When the students visited the university on Tuesday to verify their authenticity of the marksheets, they were initially stopped at the university gate, he said. However, when the students managed to enter, officials and staff from the agriculture department allegedly refused to respond to their queries and then locked the department before fleeing.

Suspecting fraud, they approached the police, according to the complaint. Based on Giri's complaint, an FIR has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation is underway, the police said.

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Raid by Special Operations Group team at JS University campus

The accused named in the complaint include JS University Chancellor Sukesh Yadav, Director Gaurav Yadav, official PS Yadav, Agriculture Department Head Umesh Mishra and Registrar Nandan Mishra, they said. Authorities noted that this is not the first controversy surrounding the university.

Recently, a Special Operations Group (SOG) team from Jaipur, Rajasthan, had raided JS University in connection with a case of issuing fake degrees and marksheets. During the raid, they arrested Registrar Nandan Mishra and an alleged middleman, Ajay Bhardwaj, they said. "Based on their interrogation, university chancellor Sukesh Yadav was later apprehended at an airport in Delhi while allegedly attempting to flee," an official said.

ASP Bhadoria further said that the Firozabad police are in contact with Jaipur authorities regarding the case, and further investigations are ongoing.