Our Correspondent

Abohar, November 21

The Rajasthan Police arrested Amar Setia (30), a resident of Riddhi Siddhi Enclave, in connection with a fake degree scam, which was reported seven months ago.

The accused had been running a distance learning centre on the Abohar-Hanumangarh road. Dr Hanuwant Singh Rajpurohit, incharge, Rajnagar police station, said Setia reportedly admitted during preliminary investigation that he had arranged fake degrees (BA, BCom, DCA and BCA) for 60 persons between 2012 and 2017 through Madan Bhardwaj of New Delhi. These degrees were from Chander Mohan Jha University, Meghalaya, and Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University, Jorethang, Sikkim. A hunt has been launched to nab Bhardwaj.

In September 2012, one of Setia’s acquaintances, Pradeep Saharan of Roranwali village, came to his office with Jodha Singh of Hanumangarh. They reportedly paid Rs 25,000 for a fake marksheet for Indira Khungar. The duo allegedly arranged fake degrees for

10-15 persons of Hanumangarh district.

Khungar, who allegedly got a government job in 2018 in the Education Department in Jhunjhunu district by using the fake degree, was arrested last week and facilitator Pradeep Saharan was arrested on November 19. Dr Rajpurohit said Saharan had been running a coaching centre in Hanumangarh from 2010 to 2013. He revealed during interrogation that Jodha and his wife Sunita Bhatti had called him to their house and asked to arrange a fake BA degree for their relative Khungar. He was reportedly paid Rs 25,000 for this work. He took Jodha to Abohar and settled the deal with Setia.

Jodha has been serving as a chief of the Child Welfare Committee in Hanumangarh. He and his wife who served in the Education Department are on the run. Jodha had refuted the allegations three days ago. In July 2018, the degree of Khungar, who taught at Government Girls Upper Primary School, Pattusari (Jhunjhunu), was challenged. Superintendent of Police Sudhir Chaudhary has formed an SIT to investigate the matter.