Police give clean chit to varsity staff in job scam
Police have denied involvement of any official of the Punjabi University in the fake recruitment scam that came to the fore when some youths approached varsity authorities with fake appointment and joining letters.
Police have denied involvement of any official of the Punjabi University in the fake recruitment scam that came to the fore when some youths approached varsity authorities with fake appointment and joining letters.
Denying the role of any university official, the superintendent of police (SP) Daljeet Singh Rana said, "There seems to be no role of any varsity staff member in the fraud. Our probe reveals that some people from the gang who duped several youth posed themselves as the varsity officials and interviewed them."
An FIR was registered at the Urban Estate police station after a dozen of youngsters had complained to the police against Amarjeet Singh Kang and his wife Narainder Kaur Kang. Amarjeet is a dismissed constable of Punjab Police, while his wife reportedly was district Mahila Congress chief. The couple is reported to have made crores of rupees from the racket and are absconding.
Hundreds of duped youngsters had approached SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill with a complaint.
Rana heads the investigation team formed by the district police.The police team verified the facts after showing the photographs of the varsity officials to the duped youth. The cheated candidates denied having seen any of the official. Apparently some of the gang members had posed as officials during the interviews.
Ironically, the interviews were conducted in the Arts Auditorium of the Punjabi University.
The police have also found that a beacon-fitted Ambassador car was used to transport interviewee candidates from the Akal Academy, run by the couple from the Urban Estate Area, to the university campus.
"They used to conduct these interviews either on Sundays or any other holiday," said Rana.
The couple used to charge up to Rs 4 lakh for the clerk's job in the university. The students were then issued appointment letters on forged letter pads of vice-chancellor and registrar.
"It was also mentioned in the appointment letters that the candidate would have to undergo a six-month training in the academy before joining the university," said Sukhbir Singh, one of the complainants.
Punjabi University registrar AS Chawla, however, refuted the allegation that the varsity premises were used for 'fake interviews'. He said the varsity had already filed a police complaint to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, the security wing of the varsity has asked for the exact details of the specific interview dates to verify the duty of peons in security guards in the varsity premises.
Vice chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh said the varsity was open for any enquiry into the case and was fully co-operating with the police.
Interestingly, this gang issued joint fake appointment letters to 28 persons on March 20, 2012 carrying signatures of Controller Examination directing them to join in various departments.
