11 named in chargesheet against CMJ Varsity that gave away 434 PhDs in one year

The Meghalaya Police have filed its chargesheet against CMJ University – a private university in Meghalaya – with its ‘chancellor’ Chandra Mohan Jha, his wife I R Jha, two sons Govind Jha and Gopal Jha figuring among the eleven persons named in it. The university, which has since been dissolved, had landed in a scam after it was found awarding over 400 PhDs in one year.

Others whose names have been mentioned in the chargesheet are Registrar Mrinal Kanti Deb, former Registrar Tilok Das Gupta, Deputy Registrar Premlal Rai, Director Manjit Kaur Kaushal, Human Resource Manager Juban Kharpuri, Chancellor Apex e-learning Bangalore Dhanwant Singh Matharoo, and an employee of the examination department called Asifa Nongrum. Jha’s sons Govind Jha was Secretary of the CMJ Foundation, while Gopal Jha was Treasurer of the same.

The chargesheet which runs into more than 100 pages, was submitted to the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Friday by East Khasi Hills district SP Spill Thamar who as Additional SP (CID) two years ago was also appointed the investigating officer. The police also submitted a jeep-load of documents to the CJM’s Court, which included several hundred PhD theses.

Irregularities in the controversial university incidentally was unearthed by former IPS officer RS Mooshahary, who as then Meghalaya governor was also Visitor to the private university. It was Mooshahary who had also filed an FIR with the police against the CMJ University and its ‘chancellor’ CM Jha, on April 26, 2013 under Sections 420, 406, 466, 34, 109, 120 B and 467 of the Indian Penal Code. The private university had in 2012-13 alone awarded PhD degrees to 434 persons who were mostly college teachers working in different states across the country.

CM Jha, who hails from Bihar, had landed in Shillong in the early 1980s to start career as a petty supplier of stationery items to different government departments. While reports attribute his rags-to-riches story to blessings he received from some prominent politicians, Jha, arrested several times in several cases including fraud and forgery, had in 2014 also contested as an independent candidate from Jhanjharia in Bihar after making a futile attempt to get a BJP ticket.