UP: 1,372 fake degrees, mark sheets seized from Hapur private university, chairman, pro-chancellor held

Besides university chairperson Vijendra Singh Hooda and pro-chancellor Nitin Kumar Singh, those arrested are varsity staffers Kamal Batra, Imran, Gaurav, Mukesh Thakur, Vipul Chaudhary and Abhishek Pandey, and one Sandeep Shehrawat and his associate Rajesh, officials said.

The accused prepared counterfeit degrees and mark sheets for various courses, including BA, B.Ed, law, pharmacy and B.Tech, in lieu of money, they said.

In the statement, the STF said that Hooda, also an accused in the infamous Bike Bot scam, an investment scheme running into Rs 15,000 crore, has nearly a hundred cases registered against him in several districts. He has been managing Monad University since 2022, it is learnt.

An FIR was registered under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 338 (forgery of valuable security), 340 (1) (forged documents), 111 (organised crime) and 336 (3) (forgery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The police said the action was taken after they received a complaint about fake degrees and mark sheets being prepared for various courses at the university.

They first arrested Sandeep, a resident of Haryana and key member of the alleged forgery racket, near Monad University on Saturday. During questioning, Sandeep confessed that he printed counterfeit degrees and mark sheets on the directions of Hooda, the STF said. Then the STF team raided the university and arrested the other accused from the campus and interrogated them for nearly five hours, the press statement said.

The accused were produced in a court and sent to jail, the officials said.

In the statement, STF Additional Director General (ADG) Amitabh Yash said, “In the course of investigation of an application, action was taken by the STF’s Lucknow head office team at Monad University, Hapur 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.

The accused charged the students between Rs 50,000 and Rs 400,000 for a degree, depending on the course, the Special Task Force officials claimed. — with PTI inputs