Fake degree scam: ED attaches assets of MBU, Manav Bharti trust

New Delhi, Jan 29 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 194.17 crore belonging to the Manav Bharti University (MBU), the Madhav University, the Manav Bharti Charitable Trust and its Chairman Raj Kumar Rana in the fake degree scam money laundering case.
An ED official here said that the agency has attached moveable and immovable properties in the form of land, residential and commercial buildings worth Rs 186.44 crore located in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan and six FDs totalling Rs 7.72 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED has registered a case on the basis of FIRs registered by Himachal Pradesh Police against Rana and others.
The official said that during investigation it was revealed that Rana started this scam of issuance of fake degrees in the name of MBU in 2009 from his office in Haryana’s Karnal.
The proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 387 crore generated from issuance of fake degrees were invested by Rana in several properties in his name as well as in the name of his son Mandeep Rana and other family members.
“It has come out that these properties were undervalued, so that illegal cash proceeds may be adjusted. Thereafter one more university, namely Madhav University in Rajasthan’s Sirohi, was constructed by Rana through the illegal proceeds generated from issuance of fake degrees,” the official said.