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2 Punjabi varsity staffers among 7 booked in fake billing scam
Police on Monday registered a case against seven persons, including two Punjabi University employees, in the fake billing scam in the varsity
Police on Monday registered a case against seven persons, including two Punjabi University employees, in the fake billing scam in the varsity.
The accused also include those shown as beneficiaries withdrawing funds through fake bills.
The seven who were booked are varsity employees Nishu Chaudhary, a senior assistant, and Jatinder Singh besides Akashdeep Singh, Sonu Kumar, Harpreet Singh, Vinay and Nisha Sharma.
In May, the varsity authorities had suspended two of its employees for their alleged involvement in the scam and then lodged a police complaint against the seven a month later. Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Garg had directed DSP Sourav Jindal to investigate the matter.
The case was registered under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 465 (for making forged documents), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged), 201 (tampering with evidence) and 381 (theft) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
DSP Jindal said, “The FIR was lodged on the basis of a preliminary inquiry. Now, detailed investigation will be carried into the matter. The accused will be arrested soon.”
In May, the cash-strapped university’s internal audit department and finance wing had red-flagged five bills amounting to ₹6 lakh.
The stamp and signatures of the department head were found to be fake and the names of research scholars and assistants against whom the bills were raised also turned out to be bogus.
A committee comprising registrar Varinder Kaushik, dean (research) Ashok Tiwari and finance officer Rakesh Khurana probed the bank accounts of the senior assistant and the others involved. The help of the university’s forensic department was taken to investigate the fake signatures and stamps.
According to the committee report, the senior assistant, who handled the funds provided to the university under various heads and was posted in the same department for over a decade, used to create and submit bogus bills in the name of fake research scholars and assistants to siphon off money.
The funds included those provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for development schemes, non-UGC grant for research projects and scholarships given by the Union ministry of education besides those received under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan. The embezzlement went unchecked for six years.
