New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) The CBI on Tuesday conducted raids at five premises of Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan of West Bengal's Birbhum in connection with alleged irregularities committed by its sacked vice chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta.
Two places in Kolkata and two in Bhubaneswar were also searched by separate Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) teams. The CBI conducted the raids after filing an FIR on the direction of central government.
It is alleged that University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines were not followed in the appointment process during the tenure of Dattagupta, who is also accused of drawing salary from the Visva Bharati University and a pension from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) simultaneously, said sources.
"It has been alleged in the FIR that Dr.S. Duttagupta in connivance with other accused officials appointed Shyamala Ray Nair as deputy registrar illegally in violation of UGC guidelines," said a CBI official.
Dattagupta was appointed in 2011. He had challenged the legality of the ministry's fact-finding committee but his petition was dismissed by the Calcutta High Court.
The university was founded by the first non-European nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 and was declared a central university in 1951.
