Prime accused in Punjabi University UGC funds scam held in Himachal Pradesh

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 20

The police have nabbed a prime accused in misappropriation of the UGC funds scam at Punjabi University. The accused has been identified as Nishu Chaudhary. He was arrested along with two others after over a month-long struggle.

We arrested Jatinder from Patiala. After extracting information from him, Nishu, Ashu and Sonu were nabbed from Kangra. They were presented in a local court, which sent them to five-day police remand. — Ronnie Singh, SHO, Urban Estate , Patiala

Officials said the accused were nabbed from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh (HP). They were presented in a local court here, which sent them to five-day police remand.

Till now, the police have managed to nab five accused in the case. Nishu Chaudhary, Ashu Chaudhary and Sonu Kumar were arrested on Sunday while Jatinder Singh and Vinay were nabbed earlier.

The Station House Officer (SHO), Urban Estate, Ronnie Singh, said, “We arrested Jatinder from Patiala. After extracting information from him, Nishu, Ashu and Sonu were nabbed from Kangra. They were presented in a local court and sent on five-day police remand.”

Ashu was identified as part of the investigation while Nishu and Sonu had been named in the FIR, the SHO added

The matter revolves around misappropriation of university funds related to UGC grants in which the police had registered a case against seven individuals on August 1 after carrying out a preliminary investigation upon complaint of the authorities concerned.

As per the university complaint, many employees on the campus had prepared fake scholarship bills in the name of at least seven research fellows, wrongly verified them and passed them for payment.

The university accused employees of forging signatures of a head of the department and later, fraudulently misutilisation of the released amount after withdrawal from various bank accounts for personal use.

While the police were trying to locate the accused, the university, which was conducting an inquiry into its bank accounts, also found involvement of 10 others, including its seven regular employees last week.

The police said they had managed to nab five out of seven accused, who were named in the FIR. “The remaining accused will also be arrested soon,” the police added.