Indian university caught selling 36,000 fake degrees, according to police investigation

Earlier this month, after a routine investigation of a fake degree case, the Indian police uncovered a university selling tens of thousands of fabricated degrees to a multitude of people.

As reported by The Times of India, Manav Bharti University in the state of Himachal Pradesh, had sold over 36,000 fake degrees over the span of almost a decade.

It was revealed that out of a total of 41,000 degrees issued by the Manav Bharti University, a mere 5000 were found to be verified and legitimate.

The university is run by the Manav Bharti Charitable Trust, and police have initiated the process to extradite chairman Raj Kumar Rana, his wife Ashoni Kanwar and daughter Aina Rana - both of whom are trustees.

The investigation also questioned whether other universities under the Manav Bharti Charitable Trust, are also involved in selling fake degrees.

With the news of the extradition, the Indian Enforcement Directorate had provisionally placed the land, houses and commercial buildings of the trust chairman and his family in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan as well as bank deposits totaling Rs194.17 crore (S$35 million) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Indian authorities estimated that Rana and his family had amassed property worth Rs387 crore (S$70 million) from the proceeds of the racket.

The 36,000 fake degrees issued by Manav Bharti University was said to be only the tip of an iceberg, as the number of fake degrees issued is known to be many more. The scam is likely to run into crores of rupees, said the investigation team.