BENGALURU: The Rajiv Gandhi
University of Health Sciences (
RGUHS), on Monday filed an FIR against Bethel Medical Mission, a few colleges run by which are facing allegations of being involved in forging documents, including marks cards and provisional degree certificates.
The FIR is based on an interim report prepared by two committees—a five-member panel looking into fake marks cards and degree certificates and the other nine-member team probing a complaint of a fake hall ticket by an Iranian student—which has found multiple irregularities by the colleges.
Based on the Iranian student’s complaint, the nine-member committee had, on Wednesday last, conducted a surprise inspection during which the university said, multiple incriminating documents and fake seals and stamps were found on the college premises.
TOI had first broken the story on the fake marks cards and degree certificate frauds, which kick started the investigation by the university, which later claimed that most of the students whose names are on the
fake documents are from the said group of colleges.
The FIR by RGUHS, however, comes five days after the one registered by the Bethel Medical Mission, alleging that unnamed officials from the university had trespassed into its premises without proper approvals and that the group of men had even stolen cash along with other things from the college.
Bethel Medical Mission Chairman Sunny D while claiming that the college was willing to offer complete co-operation if the university had any evidence to back its claims, had asked: “Why haven’t they filed an FIR if they think we were indulging in any form of wrongdoing?”
Sources in the RGUHS told TOI on Monday: “...We were gathering evidence before filing an FIR, and to do that we had to conduct surprise raids as we were tipped off about the college destroying evidence if it had prior information about our investigation. The inspection was conducted under the provisions of the RGUHS Act, and there was nothing illegal about the search. Now that the interim report has found some evidence prima facie, we have gone ahead with the FIR.”
S Shivakumar, president, Karnataka State Association of Management of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Institutions, also said that the association, prima facie, is standing by the institution as it has found that the university has not followed procedures in conducting searches, and has not been transparent.
“Even we have written to the university as we believe that there’s a group that is targetting minority institutions, which is unfair. We, however, recommend strict action if there is any wrongdoing on the part of the college,” he had told TOI.
Legal Notice To Varsity
On Monday, Sunny told TOI that the institution has sent a legal notice to the registrar and the vice-chancellor of the university. In the notice, the institution has reiterated its stand that the surprise inspection conducted by a committee was in violation of laws.
Terming it “criminal trespassing and dacoity,” the notice reads: “...We request you to immediately initiate an enquiry and suspend the officials who were engaged in criminal activities and return all the documents and cash taken away from our custody illegally, without any warrant or search notice and in violation of the bye-laws of the University and in utter disobedience of the rules and regulations in this regard.”
So far the fake hall ticket complaint goes, the institution has claimed: “For all Hall tickets Principal signed personally but for the student in question the Principal has sent several letters and emails to the University and the university has not issued hall ticket to this student. And, the principal has not issued hall ticket and it appears that the student may have done something. Let the University authorities send the notice to the principal and the student and verify… The student has not attended the practical exam which the principal will be able to verify as he was the chief examiner.”
