The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has busted a major fake degree racket operating out of Monad University, a private institution in Hapur. Ten individuals were arrested, including Vijendra Singh Hudda, the university’s chairperson, police said on Sunday.
The accused were allegedly selling forged degrees, mark sheets, migration certificates, and other educational documents to students and job seekers, charging anywhere between Rs50,000 and Rs5 lakh per certificate. These included qualifications in BTech, LLB, LLM, BSc, and BEd — most of which did not exist in the university’s official records.
UP STF Additional Director General Amitabh Yash said the operation began after the arrest of Sandeep Kumar from Haryana, who was caught with fake documents. Upon questioning, he confessed that the documents were printed under Hudda’s instructions, for which he received Rs5,000 per certificate.
A raid on Saturday led to the seizure of:
1,372 fake degrees
262 forged provisional and migration certificates
Rs6.5 lakh in cash
Multiple computers, printers, and electronic devices
The fake documents were verified against the Monad University database, and none of the enrollment numbers matched any legitimate student records, confirming large-scale fraud.
An FIR was filed under BNS sections 318(4) (cheating), 336, 338, 340 (forgery), and 111 (organised crime). Investigations are ongoing to identify more accomplices and victims of the scam.
This is not the first controversy involving Hudda. He was previously accused in the multi-crore Bike Boat scam, with over 118 FIRs filed against him across UP. After briefly fleeing to London, Hudda returned on bail in 2022 and allegedly resumed illegal activities at Monad University.
Monad University has faced repeated legal action, including involvement in a 2019 post-matric scholarship scam involving a ₹20.6 lakh fraud and arrests of staff in 2021 and 2024 over similar document rackets.