Andhra education institute bribed NAAC for favourable report: CBI FIR

New Delhi: In a case of alleged bribery of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection committee by an Andhra Pradesh higher education institution, the CBI alleged in its FIR that a cumulative amount of Rs 1.80 crore was demanded for a favourable report by the agency. However, after negotiations, the bribe was agreed to be a laptop and Rs 3 lakh each to team members, Rs 10 lakh to the committee chairman, and Rs 10 lakh to bear the travel expenses of one of the members' wives.

On Sunday, the Central probe agency arrested 10 people over the case, including the chairman of a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection committee and its six members. One of them is a JNU professor, The India Express reported.

The arrested were identified as “G P Saradhi Varma, the Vice-Chancellor of Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF), Vaddeswaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh; Koneru Raja Hareen, Vice-President, KLEF; A Ramakrishna, Director, K L University, Hyderabad campus; Samarendra Nath Saha, Vice-Chancellor of Ramchandra Chandravansi University and Chairman, NAAC Inspection Committee; Rajeev Sijariya, Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), member coordinator (NAAC Inspection Committee).

There are more accused, and they are identified as Dr D Gopal, Dean of Bharath Institute of Law; Rajesh Singh Pawar, Dean of Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal; Manas Kumar Mishra, Director of GL Bajaj Institute of Technology & Management; Gayathri Devaraja, Professor of Davangere University; and Dr Bulu Maharana, Professor of Sambalpur University.

The TIE reported that the CBI has named 14 people in its FIR and is investigating whether more people are involved.