A fake degree scam has been lashed out at the Indira Gandhi National Open University centre in Jammu and Kashmir`s Kathua district.

A fake degree scam has been lashed out at the Indira Gandhi National Open University centre in Jammu and Kashmir`s Kathua district.

The crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police have exposed a major scam at an IGNOU centre in Kathua district, where nearly 4,000 students were issued bogus degrees without appearing in examinations.

The scam at the IGNOU centre was unearthed after the police received an input that a person — identified as Prashant Bandari — along with his associates was involved in fraudulently conducting examinations and giving admissions to students at the centre established in Billawar town in 2014-15, a crime branch spokesman said.

Here`s what a senior official from IGNOU said:

“The varsity is investing the whole issue and strict action will be taken against anyone found guilty,” a senior official from IGNOU told India Today Education wishing not to be named.

Here`s what a crime branch spokesman said:

“About 4,000 students have been shown taken admission through the centre and till date no examination has been conducted by this centre. The students enrolled through the centre have been shown appeared in examinations and degrees issued to them,” a crime branch official told news agency PTI.

“In this scandal, officials of IGNOU and post offices are involved in preparing fake answer sheets at regional centres,” the spokesman added.

More on the report:

The centre runs two admission sessions- in January and July- and two examinations sessions — in June and December — every year with enrolment of 800 to 1,200 students in each session

Further, citing the preliminary investigation the crime branch official said bogus attendance sheets and answer sheets were submitted to IGNOU using the centre codes of Katra, Kishtwar, Chatroo and Paddar

Thousands of rupees were collected from each candidate and the money was embezzled through bank accounts opened in the name of the chairman and a non-existent coordinator

The honorarium of faculty members and counsellors was also swindled by Bandari, his associate Bhopinder Gupta and others in connivance with a few IGNOU officials.

As of now, a case has been registered but no arrest has been made so far.