HP Police refutes former DGP Mardi’s allegations over delay in Manav Bharti University fake degree case

The Himachal Pradesh Police on Monday refuted allegations made by former Director General of Police (DGP) SR Mardi regarding a delay in the registration of the Manav Bharti University fake degree case by the Crime Branch-CID.

In a statement issued here, the police said that on February 27, 2020, Mardi, who was the then DGP, had forwarded a complaint received from the Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission to the Crime Branch-CID. He had directed the agency to conduct an enquiry and register an FIR if a cognisable offence was found to have been committed.

The police said the Crime Branch acted promptly and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the same day under the supervision of then Superintendent of Police (SP) V Kalia. The SIT completed the enquiry within a week, collected relevant material, prepared a detailed report and recommended registration of an FIR at Police Station CID Crime, Bharari.

“The SIT had also prepared a draft FIR and submitted the complete file to the then DGP on March 4, 2020, for approval,” the police said.

However, instead of approving the registration of the FIR as recommended by the SIT, the then DGP directed that the enquiry record along with the recommendations be forwarded to the SP, Solan, for further action, the police added.

The police further stated that Mardi had directed the then SP, Solan, to register an FIR at Dharampur police station in Solan district on the basis of directions from Police Headquarters and not on the basis of the enquiry report and recommendations submitted by the CID.

Responding to the allegations, Mardi said that two FIRs in the matter had been registered without any delay and that the period of delay mentioned in the FIR itself was of more than two years.