Bungling case: Records of Punjabi varsity research scholars under lens

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 12

In what has come out as a major case of bungling of Punjabi University’s UGC-related scholarship funds, records of all research scholars admitted since 2014 are now under police scanner.

The police, during a press conference held on September 23, had claimed the bungled money could be over a crore, but sources say it could be much higher.

The Patiala police have collected important finance-related documents from the university. Officials said the university collected records of all its research scholars admitted since 2014 and provided these to the police for investigation. The information includes bank account numbers, schemes under which the scholarship funds are provided to the scholar, fellowship amount and HRA of research scholars. Insiders said those involved in the scam credited multiple transactions into various bank accounts over a span of years, the details of which will be revealed after each one is properly scanned. Vice Chancellor Prof Arvind said, “We have provided the police all records of research scholars admitted since 2014 as per their demands. They have also collected some other information regarding the university’s finances.” He said apart from names of 17 people that were provided to the police by the university, no new names or any other information had been shared by the police with the university yet. Urban Estate SHO Ronnie Singh said the university was slow in providing information. He said the police would differentiate among genuine and fake scholars.