Senior Congress leader and Sujanpur MLA Rajinder Singh Rana on Monday accused the BJP-led state government of trying to cover up the fake degrees scam allegedly involving Manav Bharti University (MMU), Solan.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the government was attempting to save the real faces behind the scam: “The opposition has been raising the issue in and outside assembly, but the government hasn’t come up with a clear explanation.”
Rana alleged that MMU sold nearly 6 lakh fake degrees and the scam was worth more than ₹20,000 crore. “Even when the state government formed a special investigation team to probe the scam, crores of rupees were withdrawn from the university account. Government should tell where this money went,” he said.
The Congress leader said the eight accused, who were arrested in the case, had got bail which reflected that the government deliberately pleaded its case in a careless manner and its intention to hush up the matter.
He said the MMU chairman was already facing a case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for a similar scam while running some vocational courses back in 1998, when also BJP was in power.
{{/usCountry}}He said the MMU chairman was already facing a case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for a similar scam while running some vocational courses back in 1998, when also BJP was in power.
{{/usCountry}}“Despite this, he managed to get a huge chunk of land to set up a private university in 2008 when BJP introduced the Private Universities Act,” he said. “This is a fit case for CBI investigation, but the government is avoiding the probe as it wants to save those behind it,” he alleged, adding that even senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar had raised the matter with the government and demanded punishment for the real culprits.
‘Benami land deals rising under BJP regime’
Rana further alleged that benami land deals were on the rise under the current BJP regime and some ruling party leaders were also involved in it.
He said the registry of a piece of land measuring 38 kanals near the international cricket stadium was done for just ₹75 lakh, while its actual price was in crores.
“This was just to convert black money into white. The person on whose name the land was bought is a farmer, with no source of such huge income,” he alleged, adding that while the government talked tall about zero tolerance against corruption, it was itself in neck deep in corruption.