Chancellor, registrar of UP-based pvt univ among 3 held for issuing fake degrees
The JS University in Shikohabad, UP, was founded by Sukesh Kumar in 2015. Sukesh, the current chancellor of the university, is also the principal of Agra Government College
Jaipur: Three men arrested, including the chancellor and the registrar of a Uttar Pradesh-based private university, on Saturday by the Rajasthan’s special operations group (SOG) for issuing fake degrees to candidates of Rajasthan’s Physical Training Instructor (PTI) recruitment exam in 2022, police said.
After we held the owner and registrar of Om Prakash Joginder Singh (OPJS) university for issuing over 43,000 fake degrees across the country, we recently found that UP’s Jagadish Singh (JS) University had also issued multiple fake BPEd (Bachelor of Physical Education) degrees to several candidates from Rajasthan, who majorly appeared for the PTI-2022 exam,” additional director general of police of the SOG VK Singh said.
Also Read: Private Rajasthan University under lens for issuing 43k forged degrees at around 19 states and Nepal
The matter came under scanner while reviewing the profiles and backgrounds of the candidates from the exam, which is already under the SOG’s scrutiny after many were found to have qualified through impersonation, an official from SOG said.
The JS University in Shikohabad, UP, was founded by Sukesh Kumar in 2015. Sukesh is the current chancellor of the university. He is also the principal of Agra Government College, the official added.
“He, along with the registrar Nandan Mishra and a private individual Ajay Bhardwaj, had issued thousands of fake degrees to many students over the last 10 years in exchange for money. Though the amount they received is still being investigated, it was revealed that they issued BPEd degrees with backdated timestamps to students who never attended the university. On Saturday, we arrested Kumar, Mishra, and Bhardwaj,” said Singh.
He said that the agency has so far identified 108 of the 254 JS alumni who appeared for the PTI-2022 exam with fake degrees. “All these candidates claimed that they obtained their degrees in 2022, while the university has an intake of only 100. The degrees of the remaining candidates are also under our lens,” the ADGP added.
The officer also informed that many candidates had produced their degrees from the JS University during the verification process while they mentioned a different university’s name during the application process. “At least 2,067 students were also found mentioning JS University during their application in the PTI-2022 exam. However, this total number is much higher than the total intake of the university in the BPEd course,” said Singh.
He also said that chancellor Sukesh was trying to flee abroad on Saturday morning after the SOG summoned him. He was arrested from the Delhi airport.
“Another accused, Bharadwaj, was also found to be in contact with one of Rajasthan’s infamous paper leak masterminds, Bhupendra Saran. Bharadwaj was also planning to set up two more private universities in Dungarpur, Rajasthan, and in Meghalaya,” Singh said.
Also Read: Private university in HP sold 45,000 fake degrees, reveals SIT probe
The UGC had debarred the university from issuing PhD degrees in January this year.
Following the PTI-2022 verification incident, the SOG conducted a decoy operation in April and got hold of a middleman, Pradeep Sharma, in Churu who used to work for both the OPJS University and the Uttarakhand-based private institution Himalayan Garhwal University. The SOG arrested 13 people, including OPJS University owner Jogender Singh Dalal, former chairperson Sarita Karwasra, and former registrar Jitendra Yadav (also the owner of two other private universities in Rajasthan and Gujarat) in the case on July 5, 2024.
So far, the SOG has arrested 16 people in connection with the fake degree racket.
