In yet another crown of ignominy on Vadodara’s controversial Parul University, a hostel rector on the varsity campus has been accused of siphoning off Rs 31.9 lakh of students’ money for cryptocurrency trading in connivance with a student.
The police have initiated a probe against the rector.
The FIR, registered at the city’s Waghodia police station based on a complaint by varsity employee Ashu Singh Rajput, accused rector Pawan Babulal Tanwar of cheating students seeking accommodation by transferring hostel fees of Rs 96,000 per student to his personal account.
According to the FIR, Tanwar, a native of Haryana’s Bhiwani, was appointed rector of B5 and B6 floors of Sardar Bhawan hostel, who allegedly conspired with Gir Somnath student Manthan Govind Gohil to indulge in cryptocurrency trading using funds illegally obtained from students.
In his complaint, Rajput said, “Pawan Tanwar knew that he had to collect hostel accommodation charges from students and deposit them in the university’s account, but he misused his position and misled 47 students and deposited the fee in his personal bank account between February 27 and July 7, 2024.” A major chunk of this money was also transferred to the account of university student Manthan Gohil and later wasted.”
According to the FIR, the embezzled amount of around Rs 31.9 lakh came to light when the university management detected discrepancies in hostel fee payments, which were missing from the university records.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the university revealed that Tanwar had transferred a considerable amount of money to Gohil’s account, who then got involved in crypto trading.
The FIR has been registered under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 114 (offender present at the time of offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which covers the period from February 27 to June 30, when the IPC was in force in the country.
Old tryst with controversies
Established in 2009, Parul University has repeatedly been in thick of controversies for one reason or the other. It was in news a few months ago due to the paper leak scandal, which resulted in the arrest of a student and an office assistant. Reportedly, university exam papers can be easily purchased. Of course, there is no eligibility criteria for admission to this university, where admission can also be purchased, say insiders.
In January 2022, the university suspended 40 students for a month after they raised concerns over the spread of COVID-19 on campus and the university’s insistence on overcharging fees and a decline in online classes.
Then, in June 2022, when the whole of Gujarat was in the grip of Covid 19 and the state had over 32,000 active cases, Parul University forced its students to stay on campus. Over 65 students contracted the infection, but the management stubbornly refused to go online.
Angry with the insensitivity of the management, the students unitedly protested against the decision. The management, in turn, instructed its security guards to “give a good dose” to the students, due to which the guards got entangled with the students.
The next day, students stormed the campus demanding that the university be put on online mode. Videos emerging from the campus showed students clashing with security guards outside the main building.
An IAS officer, who had earlier worked in Vadodara, had told VO! On anonymity that several irregularities were going on at the university and “they have political backing and hence they get away despite being a place of third-class education”.
Known for buying “best university” rankings and ratings, the Income Tax Department had put Parul University on the radar for misusing documents of at least 200 college students. To save tax, the university, which would naturally collect all the documents of its students during admissions, made at least 178 students “directors” and “trustees.” They filed these bogus declarations with the Income Tax. The Income Tax has filed a complaint against the chairman and trustees of Parul University and Parul Arogya Seva Mandal under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act.
Parul Patel, managing trustee of Parul University, had admitted in her statement to the Income Tax Department that fake expenses were recorded in the university register as salaries paid to fake employees.
The university was founded by Jayesh Patel. Jayesh was with the BJP when he was arrested on charges of raping a student in 2016. The student, a 21-year-old girl from a poor family, was studying in the nursing college of Parul University and within 24 hours of her rape came bravely to complain against the university’s founder and trustee Jayesh Patel, who was 66 years old at the time. Jayesh was sacked after his semen and DNA profiling confirmed rape. He was later arrested by Gujarat Police. Jayesh had joined the BJP in 2014. He had earlier allied with several other parties, including the Congress. He had earlier contested assembly elections on a Congress ticket.
Jayesh, a diploma holder in homeopathy, ran a walk-in clinic in Vadodara’s Kothi area and his main occupation was performing illegal abortions for Rs 150.
He then established an Institute of Homeopathy in Ahmedabad and eventually built the sprawling campus of Parul University, which is named after his eldest daughter. They began the practice of admitting students regardless of merit rankings.
The police had also arrested the then nursing hostel warden Bhavna Patel in the sensational rape case. Bhawna was accused of being tasked with bringing new girls to Jayesh Patel, who clearly stated that he was only interested in girls under the age of 22.
The nursing student, who has lodged the complaint with the police, said in her FIR that on the intervening night of June 16 and June 17, Bhavna took her to the residence of Patel. The victim had also stated in her FIR that Jayesh Patel had threatened to expel her from the institute if she disclosed the matter to anyone and ruin her career by failing her in the exams.
Police registered a case against them under sections 376 (rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 114 (abetment of offence) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at Waghodia police station.
Two months after the rape, Surat Forensic Science Laboratory confirmed to Vadodara police that the girl was genuine and that Jayesh had indeed raped her.
KJ Chaudhary, police inspector and investigating officer of the then local crime branch (LCB), had said, “We received the medical report from FSL Surat. The results of all tests are positive. DNA profiling is matching. The report confirmed that Patel raped the victim. Jayesh Patel, who is absconding, has been arrested near Anand. Jayesh Patel is believed to have died of kidney failure at a hospital in Ahmedabad, where he was in police custody in 2020.”
Now, his son Devanshu Patel runs the university.
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