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Kanpur varsity V-C seeks more time to appear before UP STF in graft case, says he’s ill
The development comes after the STF had called Pathak to its headquarters in Lucknow on the aforementioned date for interrogation.
LUCKNOW: Accused in a graft case, Vinay Kumar Pathak, the vice-chancellor (V-C) of Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj University (CSMU), has expressed his inability to appear for questioning before the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on November 18. The development comes after the STF had called Pathak to its headquarters in Lucknow on the aforementioned date for interrogation.
In an e-mail, Pathak has urged the SIT to not summon him before November 25 as he is “seriously ill”. Responding to Pathak’s request, the STF shot him another e-mail asking him about the nature of his illness and the doctor he is consulting. However, till the time of filing this report, Pathak hadn’t provided any response to the queries posed by the STF. A senior STF official has maintained that the investigation agency will take further steps as per the law and the evidence collected against Pathak.
The graft case against Pathak was registered at Lucknow’s Indira Nagar police station on October 28. Since then, the Kanpur University V-C has remained elusive. He was not found at his official residence when STF reached there while one of Pathak’s employees claimed he did not know his whereabouts. An STF official, privy to the case, said that Pathak seems to be buying time to prepare the ground to evade arrest. An electronic surveillance team has been asked to trace Pathak’s location and a manhunt will be launched for him if he chooses to not appear before the STF on Friday.
Pathak is accused of demanding a hefty commission from an agency to clear its bills worth ₹1.4 crore when he was the officiating V-C of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Agra. The bills were for services obtained by Agra University from the complainant’s firm in conducting examinations. The STF official said several other anomalies related to the recruitment of outsourcing staff during Pathak’s tenure as the V-C of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow between August 2015 and August 2021 have also surfaced.
Given the allegations, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court quashed Pathak’s petition to quash the case against him earlier this week. Notably, police have already arrested Ajay Mishra and Ajay Jain, co-accused in the case. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also sought details of the FIR and evidence that surfaced during the investigation by the STF as it suspects money laundering in the case.
