Sambalpur, Feb 2: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested as many as ten prominent academicians across the country including a professor of the Sambalpur University in Odisha for being allegedly involved in bribing National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) officials for ‘A++’ accreditation.
The accused Professor has been identified as Bulu Moharana. The CBI has also sealed Moharana’s residence at Jyoti Vihar in Sambalpur.
Other arrested academicians include the chairman and six members of a NAAC inspection committee, including a professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), according to national media.
The Vice-Chancellor of Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (KLEF) in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur, G P Saradhi Varma and two other executives from the institution were also arrested in connection with the bribery case.
On the other hand, several other key figures have been named in the FIR, but not yet arrested. They include President of KLEF Koneru Satyanarayana, Former Deputy Adviser at NAAC L Manjunatha Rao, Professor and Director of IQAC-NAAC at Bangalore University M Hanumanthappa, and NAAC adviser M S Shyamsundar.
During the course of investigation, alleged bribe payments made to the NAAC team, including cash, gold, mobile phones, and laptops were discovered and later recovered during searches that the CBI conducted at 20 locations across India, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Palamu, Sambalpur, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Gautam Budh Nagar, and New Delhi.
The central probe agency has seized approximately Rs 37 lakh in cash, six Lenovo laptops, one iPhone 16 Pro, and other incriminating items.
