“Two girls paid him Rs 2,000 each and he arranged for them to attend college, which is illegal. He also took money from a few students to get them admission through the National Cadet Corps (NCC) quota,” said college principal Rajesh Mohan.

The principal said the case came to light when members of the students’ union submitted a written complaint to him, highlighting cases of corruption. Mohan then formed a committee of five faculty members to investigate the whole matter. After a month of investigation and five sittings, the committee found the student guilty last week and striped him of his post for two months. The committee also levied a fine of Rs 2,500. “But we have allowed him to attend his classes after he requested that he may be allowed to do so,” said the principal.

Devendra Bharadwaj, a batch mate, said the girls were unaware they were being cheated. One got a seat in Political Science and the other in BCom. “They thought they were paying admission fees to the college. But, once classes started, teachers got suspicious and asked them about their status. The girls then revealed they were correspondence students,” he said.

Bharadwaj protested outside the principal’s office along with other students, asking for quicker action. “We think the penalty is too lenient and we will be taking up the matter,” he adds.