On Sunday, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police arrested Sumit Jat, an accountant at Om Parkash Jogender Singh (OPJS) University in Churu, for his involvement in selling fake and backdated degrees to government job aspirants.
According to ADG (SOG), VK Singh, the investigation revealed that Jat worked in collaboration with the university administration and staff to provide fraudulent degrees and marksheets for various courses. These fake documents were sold to students through intermediaries, enabling them to secure government positions after clearing recruitment exams.
The SOG has also placed OPJS University under scrutiny for allegedly issuing backdated and fake degrees for courses that the private institution was not accredited to offer. The investigation is now focused on reviewing all 43,409 degrees issued by the university since its establishment in 2013. Sources suggest that the university issued backdated degrees for BEd and BPEd (Physical Education) programs even before obtaining the necessary accreditation, and also awarded MSc Agriculture degrees without proper authorization.
On July 5, the SOG had previously arrested the university’s founder-owner, Joginder Singh Dalal, along with former chairperson Sarita Karwasra and former registrar Jitendra Yadav. Preliminary investigations indicate that Dalal issued backdated degrees to individuals who needed graduation certificates to meet eligibility requirements.
The investigation into the fake-degree scam was launched after allegations surfaced that the university had been issuing degrees and certificates before receiving the proper accreditation for the courses, leading to concerns over the validity of the degrees awarded.
