In a shocking revelation, the OPJS University in Churu, Rajasthan, has been found guilty of issuing a massive 43,409 fake degrees between 2013 and 2023. These counterfeit degrees were distributed across 19 Indian states and even in Nepal.
The scandal came to light after a comprehensive investigation by Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group (SOG), which found that the university had issued fraudulent degrees to individuals who later secured government jobs, often based on these fake credentials. This widespread educational fraud has raised serious questions about the integrity of the higher education system in the region.
The university’s owner, Jogender Singh Dalal, along with the former chairperson Sarita Karwasra and former registrar Jitendra Yadav, were arrested on July 5, 2023, in connection with the scam. The arrests followed a deep dive into the university’s operations, where authorities discovered that the institution had issued degrees for various academic courses, including engineering, medical, pharmacy, and education, far beyond its approved scope.
VK Singh, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of the SOG, stated that a significant portion of the fake degrees had been distributed in states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, as well as in Nepal. Investigators also identified a network of middlemen involved in the distribution of these forged degrees, with transaction amounts ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs8 lakh per candidate.
The SOG’s investigation uncovered several malpractice patterns within OPJS University, including the unauthorized issuance of degrees for courses outside their accreditation, the manipulation of dates on certificates, and the falsification of academic programs offered by the university. The scam also included degrees in fields such as arts, pharmacy, education, engineering, and even medical sciences.
The unearthing of this fraud began when 1,300 applicants seeking verification for the Physical Training Instructor (PTI) exam in 2022 were found to be holding counterfeit degrees issued by OPJS University. This led to a flood of complaints from across India, eventually prompting the SOG’s helpline to investigate the fraud.