Chief of Gurugram school held in Class X CBSE affiliation row

Police said the school had CBSE affiliation only till Class VIII but admitted students to Classes IX and X using allegedly forged documents.

The chairman of Educrest International School was arrested for allegedly operating the institution without full affiliation from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and cheating at least 11 Class X students who were consequently unable to appear in their board examinations, police officials said on Saturday.

Nine affected students moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which allowed them to appear for the Class X exam under the Haryana board. (File photo)

The accused, Vineet Kataria, 38, a resident of Sector 9, was arrested from Bilaspur Chowk on Friday, police said. Kataria, who runs the school located in Sector-9B, was produced before a court on Saturday and was taken on a five day police remand for further interrogation.

Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the investigation revealed that the school, which Kataria had been running for the last eight years, was affiliated with CBSE only till Class VIII. “However, he intentionally cheated the parents as well as students by taking their admission even for classes IX and X by fraudulently publishing in the prospectus and other documents that the affiliation was till Class X,” he said, adding that Kataria is an MBA graduate.

“During quizzing, Kataria confessed that his motive was to mint money, for which he had taken admission of students even in classes IX and X by misguiding them that the school was CBSE affiliated,” Turan added.

Police said at least 11 students of Class X could not write their CBSE board examination that began on February 17, as the school failed to provide them admit cards since their enrolment had not been completed through another affiliated school.

Following a complaint by Rajender Singh, father of one of the affected students, an FIR was registered at Sector-9A police station on February 18 against the chairman, principal, vice-principal, coordinator and other officials. The case was filed under sections 3(5) (common intention), 316(2) (criminal breach of trust) and 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, alleging that forged documents were used to display a fake affiliation number.

Police said the investigation against school principal Riddhima Kataria, vice-principal Simar Batra, coordinator Sonia and others is ongoing. Despite multiple attempts from HT, Educrest International did not respond to queries and requests for comment on the matter.

Nine affected students later approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which on February 23 directed the Haryana Board of School Education to allow them to appear in the Class X examination starting February 26. Ten students submitted documents and received admit cards on February 24, while one student did not proceed with the state board examination.