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Two officials of Bandra’s Rizvi College were caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 in lieu of a student’s admission Friday, said the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). However, the officials have not been arrested as ACB is in the process of taking legal opinion.
The college management issued a statement Saturday, claiming no wrong-doing. The college is affiliated to Mumbai University.
According to ACB officials, a complaint was received Friday from a parent who alleged that the deputy office superintendent Sayyed Qamar Haider (30) and office superintendent Tusi Rizvi (45) of Rizvi College had demanded Rs 50,000 to grant admission to his ward in first year of the Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) course under the college’s management quota.
ACB officials said the complainant’s ward had not got admission in any college while applying for degree courses after class XII. A fortnight ago, the complainant was allegedly informed by Haider that some seats for BMS were available under the management quota and advised him to apply online. Following the online application, the complainant visited the college, four days ago, to enquire about it from Haider, the ACB said. During this meeting, Haider allegedly demanded the money.
Having no intention of paying the bribe, the complainant approached the ACB Friday and a trap was laid the very same day, when ACB officials accompanied the complainant to Rizvi College. “Deputy office superintendent Haider and Rizvi were caught while accepting Rs 50,000 from the student for the admission to first year BMS course,” said Vishwas Nangre-Patil, Additional Commissioner of Police, ACB.
He added that Haider used to give coupons to parents to get admission. “We have seized such coupons from the office,” he said. The ACB has put off the arrest until it secures legal opinion to go ahead. “As the college seems non-aided, we are deferring the arrest till the legal verification is done,” said Pravin Dixit, Director General, ACB.
Rizvi College released a written statement Saturday denying the allegations. “The college completely denies any wrongdoing. The two accused of wrongdoing are just clerks and not professors as alleged and were only scrutinising forms before admission as per the norms of the university,” said principal M Z Farooqui in a signed statement.
Sources at Rizvi College said the trap was laid when Farooqui was on his rounds on the sixth floor and that no cash was found in the possession of either of the two men. “Haider joined the college in 2008 and Rizvi in 2009. No complaints of misconduct has ever come against them. The ACB had got Rs 20,000 as part of the trap,” said
the source.
mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
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