The Chief Judicial Magistrate in Rudraprayag has sentenced two government teachers, Vikram Singh and Shiv Singh Rana, to five years in prison for securing employment using fraudulent educational documents. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on each of the accused and remanded them to prison.
The case surfaced following a complaint against 19 government teachers suspected of using fake degrees. Upon investigation, it was revealed that both Singh and Rana had submitted counterfeit Bachelor of Education (BEd) degrees allegedly issued by Chaudhary Charan Singh (CCS) University in Meerut.
A special investigation team (SIT) was formed in July 2018 to probe the matter. So far, 12 teachers have been imprisoned for similar offenses, while seven others are still under investigation. Singh and Rana, who were working as assistant teachers in Rudraprayag, had FIRs lodged against them by the basic education department in July and August 2018. They were arrested on November 20, 2018, but were granted bail a month later.
Cross-verification of their degrees with CCS University confirmed that the documents were fraudulent. The university provided an affidavit stating that no degrees had been issued to the accused and that their names were absent from the university’s records. Following a review of the evidence and arguments, the court found both Singh and Rana guilty under sections 420 (cheating) and 471 (fraudulently using forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
