CBI officers investigating the alleged bribery of a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) team by the Guntur-based Koneru Lakshmaiah Educational Foundation (KLEF) in exchange for an A++ rating for its university said the scam “was one of its kind in the country”.
The incident, which has come to be known as the KLEF-NAAC scam, has sent shockwaves in Andhra Pradesh’s education sector.
CBI officers who were tracking the movements of the accused had made several arrests a couple of days ago and also registered cases against those who offered bribes to the NAAC team. Cash, electronic gadgets and gold jewellery were seized by investigating officers.
The management of KLEF, which has A++ grade, reportedly colluded with the NAAC inspection committee and offered the members a bribe of around ₹50 lakh in cash, laptops and gold jewellery in order to retain the same grade.
The CBI sleuths rounded up ten accused, including KLEF Vice-Chancellor G. Parthasarathi Varma, vice-president Koneru Raja Hareen and KL University’s Hyderabad campus director A. Ramakrishna.
CBI teams, under the supervision of Superintendent of Police Suhail Sharma, conducted searches at the administrative office and campus of KLEF located in Vijayawada and at Vaddeswaram village in Guntur district respectively.
Simultaneous raids were conducted at the residences and offices of the accused, located in Vijayawada, Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Bhopal, Palamu, Sambalpur, Bilaspur and Gautam Budhh Nagar.
During their investigation, it emerged that the deal between KLEF and the NAAC inspection committee was struck in Delhi, and the KLEF management had paid ₹10 lakh immediately. The NAAC officials allegedly disclosed the names of the inspection committee to the KLEF management.
After receiving the advance money, the NAAC team also showed a favourable draft of the inspection report to the KLEF Vice-Chancellor and other officials, it was alleged.
According to sources, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had earlier blacklisted two educational institutions — one each from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — for allegedly forging NAAC reports.
Local educationists have called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
Published – February 04, 2025 08:01 pm IST