The Telangana police have intensified the probe against the 16 engineering colleges which allegedly showed fake faculty members.
According to sources, the Registrar of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) has lodged a formal police complaint stating that several engineering colleges tried to dupe the inspection teams by showing the same faculty members. Based on the complaint, the police registered cases of cheating and under other relevant sections, and also raided several colleges located in the Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda and Khammam districts.
The fake faculty members were exposed during the second round of inspection conducted by the JNTUH officials when they found that same set of people were presented as faculty members in different engineering colleges.
JNTUH suspects the role of some middlemen who recruited the faculty members only for the period of inspection by the experts' team.
Some colleges have also allegedly submitted lists of fake students to claim benefits under the fee reimbursement scheme. The police is probing this issue, too.
However, Telangana Engineering and Professional College Managements Association (TEPCMA) chairman N Goutham Rao denied the role of the managements in the affair, and said that the latter might have appointed the faculty members in a hurry at the time of the inspection without verifying the backgrounds of the people.
He expressed hope that the facts would come out after a thorough investigation by the police officials. (INN)