Shillong, July 17: The controversial Chandra Mohan Jha (CMJ) University, where questionable Ph.D thesis on “corruption” was found, has ironically faced charges of money laundering and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) continues to attach its assets.
“ED, Guwahati has provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs.7. 56 crore of CMJ University, Shillong,” the probe agency announced on its X (formerly Twitter) handle, recently.
About a decade ago, the University was alleged to have issued fake Ph.D degrees and the University was ordered to shut down by the state cabinet.
A criminal case was filed against the officials of the University. The founder and Chancellor of the University, Chandra Mohan Jha, who named the University after himself, went missing.
The campus at Laitumkhrah was sealed and during the raids several thousand copies of the theses were found by the probe agencies and some like “Corruption in India …”
The probe agency seized over 4000 such copies of the theses of students from all across the country and abroad. Another 6000 such thesis were recovered from its Jorabat campus.
The probe agencies alleged that these theses were printed by the University on behalf of the students and degrees were issued for a sum. Some estimated the value of this alleged clandestine transaction to over Rs. 100 crore.
Jha was finally nabbed from Bihar where he had filed his nominations as an Independent candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Jhanjharpur constituency. He was nabbed from a railway station after he finished an election speech and brought to Shillong on a transit remand.
The Governor at that time, RS Mooshahary, as the visitor of the state University, first found the University had violated provisions of the law. Further probe unearthed the alleged scam. The matter went to the Supreme Court.
In this saga many genuine students suffered, as the Governor ordered that degrees issued by the University be withdrawn. From 2010 after the University was established under a State Act, 3379 students had obtained degrees from CMJ University.
Meanwhile, the ED has added that so far assets of Jha and his family members, both movable and immovable, worth over Rs. 48 crore have been attached. This attachment has been done under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
