JNU Researcher, 2 UGC Staff Held For Embezzling Grant In Patiala
A post graduate researcher in criminal law tried bending the law to turn in to a criminal himself. However he was arrested. The Rajpura police arrested JNU research scholar Gaurav Trivedi. He is the son of formerMadhya Pradesh IPS officer Harish Trivedi. The police also arrested two employees of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for embezzling of research grants using fake names and forged document in the name of a college in Rajpura.
Talu Ram Bharti and Blawinder Singh, both from the UGC were caught on Saturday. Bharti is an assistant Sanction Officer while Singh is the Sanction Officer of the finance and development branch of the UGC. The case was registered by Patel College on January 15th, when a private college got a UGC letter asking for utilization certificate for Rs.1 .05 crores grant which the college had never received. Sanjeev Kalia the principal of the college remains suspended.
Hardial Singh Mann, Senior Superintendent of Police said on Sunday that the initial investigation by SP Bhupinder Singh Khatra showed that the accused had siphoned off several crores of UGC grants in the name of ineligible and fictitious colleagues. The UGC also lodged an FIR in Delhi last week in this matter, though there has been no success in the case so far.
Gaurav, enrolled for a PhD at JNU after doing a post graduation in law. He befriended two UGC staff who had a very good rapport with him. They allegedly tried to rope Gaurav in to this racket. As for the Patel College case, after the probe it was found that the grant was indeed embezzled by those three also with the principal of the college who helped forge signatures of the college management committee president Devki Nandan. An account was also opened for the same in the Union Bank of India, Patiala.
SSP Mann said that the Patel College was not eligible for the grant. But the embezzled amount was divided among the men. The accused are in police custody and the cops hope to arrest the principal soon
