The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested the chairman and six members of a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) Inspection Committee, including a JNU Professor, for taking a bribe in exchange for A++ accreditation. Vice-chancellor of the Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur and two more executives, said the officials. The Central agency raided as many as 20 locations across country.
NAAC Committee Chairman Arrested
CBI arrested the chairman of the NAAC inspection committee, Samarendra Nath Saha, who is also the vice-chancellor of the Ramchandra Chandravansi University. In an operation, the CBI has arrested G P Saradhi Varma, the KLEF vice chancellor, Koneru Raja Hareen, vice president of the KLEF, A Ramakrishna, director of K L University, Hyderabad Campus for their alleged involvement in bribing the members of an NAAC inspection committee for getting A++ accreditation, officials said.
Committee members Rajeev Sijariya, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, D.Gopal, dean of Bharath Institute of Law, Rajesh Singh Pawar, dean of Jagran Lakecity University, Manas Kumar Mishra, director of G L Bajaj Institute of Technology & Management, Gayathri Devaraja, professor at Davangere University and Bulu Maharana, professor at Sambalpur University, have also been arrested, added the CBI officials.
CBI raided 20 locations
CBI conducted raids at 20 locations across India in Chennai, Bangalore, Vijaywada, Palamu, Sambalpur, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Gautam Budh Nagar and New Delhi. The CBI registered a case and conducted searches during which “alleged undue advantage paid to the NAAC inspection team members by the office bearers of said educational foundation, in the form of cash, gold, mobile phones and laptops” was recovered, a CBI spokesperson said in a statement. “An amount of Rs 37 lakh in cash, six Lenovo laptops, one iPhone 16 pro mobile phone and other incriminating articles have been recovered,” the spokesperson added.
These names are also added in the FIR
As per the CBI officials, President of the Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur Koneru Satyanarayana, NAAC former deputy adviser L Manjunatha Rao, professor and director (IQAC-NAAC), Bangalore University M Hanumanthappa, and NAAC adviser M S Shyamsundar have been named in the FIR. However, they are not arrested so far.
(With PTI inputs)
