The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the chairman and six members of a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection committee, including a professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), in connection with a corruption case, reports said.
Among those taken into custody are G P Saradhi Varma, vice chancellor of the Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur, Koneru Raja Hareen, KLEF's vice president, and A Ramakrishna, director of K L University, Hyderabad Campus. They were allegedly involved in bribing NAAC committee members to secure an 'A' accreditation for KLEF, the agency stated.
The arrested committee members include Samarendra Nath Saha, chairman of the NAAC inspection committee and vice chancellor of Ramchandra Chandravansi University, along with Rajeev Sijariya (JNU professor), D. Gopal (dean of Bharath Institute of Law), Rajesh Singh Pawar (dean of Jagran Lakecity University), Manas Kumar Mishra (director of G L Bajaj Institute of Technology & Management), Gayathri Devaraja (professor at Davangere University), and Bulu Maharana (professor at Sambalpur University).
The CBI has also named Koneru Satyanarayana, president of KLEF, former NAAC deputy adviser L Manjunatha Rao, M Hanumanthappa, professor and director (IQAC-NAAC) at Bangalore University, and NAAC adviser M S Shyamsundar as accused in the case, but they have not been arrested yet.
During searches at 20 locations across the country, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Palamu, Sambalpur, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Gautam Budh Nagar, and New Delhi, the CBI recovered Rs 37 lakh in cash, six Lenovo laptops, an iPhone 16 Pro, and other incriminating materials.
The agency's spokesperson stated that the accused officials allegedly received bribes in the form of cash, gold, mobile phones, and laptops to influence the accreditation process. Investigations are ongoing