Punjabi varsity billing scam: Police issue lookout notices against 7 absconding accused

Police have issued lookout notices against seven absconding accused, including two varsity employees, in the case of fake billing scam at Punjabi University, Patiala

Police have issued lookout notices against seven absconding accused, including two varsity employees, in the case of fake billing scam at Punjabi University, Patiala.

Punjabi University, Patiala.

The accused are Nishu Chaudhary and Jatinder Singh, both varsity employees, and Akashdeep Singh, Sonu Kumar, Harpreet Singh, Vinay and Nisha Sharma, who were shown as beneficiaries of fake bills.

Urban Estate police station in-charge Ronnie Singh said the lookout notices have been issued to ensure that the accused don’t fly out of the country and arrest them at the earliest. “Multiple teams at work to trace the suspects. Police across the state have been briefed about the suspects,” the station house officer (SHO) said.

A case was lodged against the seven on August 1 on a complaint filed by the varsity management but the accused have been evading arrest even as the police carried multiple raids at their possible hideouts.

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 (tempering of evidences) and 381 (theft) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

In May, the university’s internal audit department and the finance wing had red-flagged five bills amounting to ₹6 lakh. The department head’s stamp and signatures 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 Nishu Chaudhary, the senior assistant, and the others involved. The help of the university’s forensic department was taken to investigate the fake signatures and stamps.