PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, July 1: Kolhan University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Gangadhar Panda has been made a named accused along with 16 others by a special investigation team (SIT) of Uttar Pradesh relating to a fake certificate case.
The SIT has filed an FIR against the alleged accused persons pertaining to a fake certificate case at the Varanasi- based Sampurnanand Sanskrit University.
The news of the VC’s alleged involvement in the fake certificate case came as a major shock. No one from the university was willing to comment on the issue.
Sources revealed that in all, there were 19 accused in the case. But, one of the accused died while another was given a clean chit.
According to sources, acting on the probe report of the SIT, the Uttar Pradesh government last year had asked the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University to initiate action against those found accused in the fake degree case.
The Uttar Pradesh government had constituted the SIT after reports of fake degree cases were unearthed in various schools.
During the re-verification of degrees and certificates of teachers of various primary schools between 2004 and 2014 it was found that out of 6,000 certificates, 1,130 were found fake. Moreover, anomalies were found in the documents of 207 teachers.
The SIT while submitting its probe report to the Uttar Pradesh government had sought permission for lodging an FIR against the accused. In the process, the SIT has now lodged FIR against 17 accused including the vice-chancellor of Kolhan University Gangadhar Panda.
Panda was earlier posted in Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. He joined as the vice-chancellor of Kolhan University in May 2020.
