Patna judge issues warrant to arrest Magadh University V-C Rajendra Prasad
The Patna high court this week rejected the vice chancellor’s contention that the Bihar special vigilance unit needed the government’s consent to probe Rajendra Prasad.
PATNA: A special vigilance court in Patna on Friday issued a warrant for the arrest of Magadh University vice-chancellor Rajendra Prasad who has been on medical leave after the state’s special vigilance unit (SVU) carried out searches at his office and Gorakhpur residence in connection with a corruption case in November last year.
“The prayer for the non-bailable warrant was made before the special vigilance court today and the court granted it. We will proceed with his arrest. Prasad’s arrest and interrogation will lead to a lot more in the case, as the involvement of some shell companies based in different places has also come to light during the investigation,” said Bihar SVU’s additional director general NH Khan.
Rajendra Prasad is accused of corruption and cheating the government exchequer to the extent of approximately ₹20 crore during 2019-21 while making “purchases of various items like e-books and OMR answer-sheets for use in university.
The arrest warrant was issued on a request of special unit’s request on Friday, a day after the Patna high court refused to shield Rajendra Prasad from arrest. Khan called the high court’s decision to reject the vice-chancellor’s petition a vindication of the probe team’s investigations.
“We have also formed special teams, which will be sent to different places to track the shell companies and how the V-C used them for siphoning off funds,” he added.
The vice-chancellor’s petition questioned the FIR filed against Rajendra Prasad on the ground that investigators did not have prior sanction to probe him as was required under the Prevention of Corruption Act after a 2018 amendment.
It is a point that was articulated by Bihar governor Phagu Chouhan’s office as well when Raj Bhavan questioned the SVU probe against the state’s top university officials for corruption. “It is not only a violation of the (Prevention of Corruption) Act, but also an infringement on the autonomy of universities and creating an atmosphere of fear on the campuses to derail normal functioning,” the governor’s principal secretary Robert L Chongthu argued in his letter to the government.
But the SVU stood its ground. The high court’s justice Ashutosh Kumar also backed the SVU, observing in a 50-page order that the provision was designed to protect honest public servants who acted in discharge of their duties. ‘The protective shield is for an honest public servant and not for a corrupt one,” justice Kumar observed
Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday said Rajendra Prasad should be sacked rather than allow him to “avail unlimited medical leave on the basis of fabricated medical reports”.
“After the rejection of his anticipatory bail plea by the HC, his continuance is baffling,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Rajya Sabha member, an oblique attack on Raj Niwas, the appointing authority of vice-chancellors in state universities.
Modi also trained guns on the Raj Bhawan for not giving permission to the Vigilance Bureau to act against Governor’s private secretary Vijay Singh and one Atul Srivastava of Lucknow, besides allowing one of the oldest universities in the state to slip into turmoil with rampant ad hocism,
The senior BJP leader said the top positions in Magadh University including the vice chancellor’s post were being held on an ad hoc basis. ‘The morale of the corrupt needs to be broken,” he said.