Fake degree racket: Scores who got jobs using forged documents now under STF scanner
A senior STF official said that a complaint regarding a candidate using a fake PhD degree issued by Monad University to get a job in another university in Haryana blew the lid off this racket operational for over a decade.
Several individuals from west U.P. and Haryana who may have got jobs using marksheets and degrees issued by Hapur’s Monad University have come under the scanner after the Special Task Force (STF) busted a gang preparing fake documents, senior police officials said on Tuesday.
Monad University chairman Vijendra Singh Hooda and nine other officials were arrested following a late-night raid at the university on May 17.
Sharing details, a senior STF official said that a complaint regarding a candidate using a fake PhD degree issued by Monad University to get a job in another university in Haryana blew the lid off this racket operational for over a decade.
“Initial tip-off was regarding the use of fake degree to procure job, but the probe uncovered a major racket involving university authorities,” he said.
According to a police official from Hapur, the university in question was set up during the Bahujan Samaj Party regime in the state and had been operational for the past 15 years.
He said the extent of the forgery could be gauged from the fact that the university offers multiple courses, including law, engineering, management, BEd, pharmacy, etc, and that the possibility of fake marksheets and degrees used by many candidates to get jobs could not be ruled out.
The official said verifying the list of candidates using fake marksheets and degrees to get jobs was a daunting task, but efforts were on to find out such people and take action against them.
Earlier on May 17, the UP STF exposed this racket after recovering 1,372 marksheets and degrees as well as 262 fake provisional and migration certificates from the said university campus in Pilkhuwa area of Hapur.
University chairman Vijendra Singh Hooda was among 10 officials who were arrested after their involvement was confirmed in the illegal practice of selling fake marksheets and degrees. Others arrested included pro-chancellor Nitin Kumar Singh, PA to university chairman Mukesh Thakur, Gaurav Sharma and Vipul Talyan (two employees of verification department), Imran Ahmad (admission director), Anil Batra (accountant), Sandeep Sherawat, Kuldeep, and Sunny Kashyap.
Meanwhile, the UP STF arrested another accused, identified as Rajesh Kumar from Faridabad in Haryana, in connection with the case on Tuesday. According to a senior STF official, Rajesh Kumar is the accomplice of Sandeep Sehrawat, who was arrested earlier on May 18.
He said the interrogation of the arrested accused revealed that the university authorities used to get fake marksheets and degrees printed from Sehrawat.
The STF official said that Sehrawat used to print the documents at his hideout in Haryana for ₹5,000 per marksheet and degree. The official added that Rajesh would deliver these fake marksheets and degrees to the university authorities and candidates. The gang charged ₹50 to ₹4 lakh from candidates.
The STF recovered around 49 fully prepared fake marksheets of Monad University, 957 blank marksheets, 223 blank migration certificates and 575 blank provisional certificates as well as two printers from Rajesh’s possession.
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A senior STF official said that Monad University had been allegedly involved in such practices for the past several years and its chairman Vijendra Singh Hooda even tried to get political patronage as he contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Bijnor parliamentary seat, but lost after his name surfaced in the multi-crore bike bot scam in 2017. The official pointed out that the Economic Offence Wing (EOW), which was probing the scam, had even declared a reward on Hooda following which he stayed in London for around a year and returned only after getting relief from a court.
The official said that the bike bot scam, operated from Gautam Buddha Nagar in U.P. and estimated to be worth over ₹15,000 crore, was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took over under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions. The ED claimed that Sanjay Bhati, along with a few others and his family members, incorporated a real estate company named Garvit Innovative Promoters Limited (GIPL) on August 20, 2010.
To make quick money, Bhati launched a bike bot scheme, a bike taxi concept powered by GIPL, in August 2017. According to the scheme, investors had to pay for a motorcycle supposed to be used as a taxi. In exchange, the investors were promised a massive return on their investment.
