Red Fort blast case: Delhi court takes cognisance of forgery case against Al Falah chairman

The chargesheets, filed by the Delhi Police Crime Branch, arise from two FIRs registered over alleged irregularities in the accreditation status of Al Falah University.

A Delhi court has taken cognisance of two chargesheets filed by Delhi Police against Al Falah Group chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddique in connection with the Red Fort blast case, holding that prima facie offences of cheating and forgery are made out over allegations of false accreditation claims on the university’s website.

The Al-Falah University in Faridabad. (ANI File)

Chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Tapasya Agarwal of the Saket court passed the order on April 4. A copy of the order was released on Wednesday.

The chargesheets, filed by the Delhi Police Crime Branch, arise from two FIRs registered over alleged irregularities in the accreditation status of Al Falah University.

One FIR accuses the university of cheating students and stakeholders by falsely claiming recognition and approval by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on its official website, and of issuing forged certificates to students.

The second FIR concerns an allegedly fake NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) status that the university displayed to mislead thousands of students. Both cases invoke the same criminal provisions relating to cheating and forgery.

Investigators alleged that the university continued to advertise recognition even after it had lapsed in order to deceive students and regulators.

In a common observation, the court said, “Prima facie, ingredients of offence u/s 318 (cheating) 336 (forgery) and 340 (Forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) are made out. Cognisance of the offence is taken”.

Prosecutor Anand Kumar Goyal told the court that as per official UGC records, Al Falah University never applied for recognition for NAAC nor had it been declared fit under Section 12(B) of the UGC Act, yet allegedly claimed on its website that it was a recognised university.

Police said the NAAC accreditation of the university’s constituent institutions had also expired in 2018.

The prosecutor argued, “In its reply, the university attributed the issue to a hacking incident, however, no documents were produced to substantiate the claim”. Police further submitted that instructions to remove the claims were directly issued by Siddique.

Police said details of nearly 1,400 students were obtained from the university, and many allegedly stated that before taking admission they had checked the university’s official website where UGC recognition and NAAC Grade A status were prominently displayed. They said the claims impressed them and influenced their decision to seek admission after paying a substantial fee of Rs. 1 lakh.

“…the accused has issued forged and fabricated certificates to the students of the university displaying such false status and also issued official documents curtailing such status,” police told the court.

The matter has been listed for May 8 for scrutiny of documents.

Siddique is also being investigated in two money laundering cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). In one case, the agency alleged that he acquired large proceeds of crime using forged documents to run educational programmes at the university. A chargesheet has already been filed in that case and cognisance is yet to be taken.

The second case relates to an alleged illegal acquisition of land in the Madanpur Khadar area, where the ED claims Siddique obtained land worth ₹45 crore using forged paperwork. Siddique was arrested in that case in March this year.