Key Points:
Manav Bharti University (MBU) in Himachal Pradesh allegedly sold over 36,000 fake degrees over 11 years
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized properties worth over ₹202 crore.
Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe that revealed only 5,000 out of 41,000 degrees issued were genuine
With the growing rise in the number of scams in recent years, educational qualification scams have always been a highlight. Some get busted, but some scams still happen in the dark.
Even though resorting to a fake degree sometimes sounds like a common man’s go-to option to land a job, this alternative is a deep-rooted phenomenon in India.
There have been a handful of controversies in recent times when even influential figures were accused of holding fake degrees. So, is the prevalence of fake degree holders, especially in India, an everyday reality?
Right after the entire world was locked up inside their homes due to COVID-19, a new education scam caught the limelight in 2021—the Manav Bharti University scam.
In the year 2021, when India was also faced with the rampaging virus, the country witnessed one of the biggest education scams later that year. There were a lot of educational discrepancies during that period.
According to an annual trend report prepared by Authbridge, “fake degree submission constituted nearly 28% of education discrepancies in 2020 in India.”
The report further highlighted that discrepancies from fake universities were also a major concern at the time. It stated that nearly 27% of discrepancies occurred due to fake degrees from fake universities.
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The following year saw one of the biggest educational frauds in India. The fake degree scam involving Manav Bharti University (MBU), Solan, Himachal Pradesh, created a tremor in the education system.
The scam resulted in a ripple effect, leading international employers to ask employees who graduated from the said private university to prove the genuineness of their educational background. This is the Manav Bharti University which allegedly sold more than 36,000 fake degrees over the course of 11 years.
The fake degree scam, which was operating in the shadows for years, was unearthed in 2019 after the University Grants Commission (UGC) received an anonymous complaint.
The tip centred on two universities—MBU in Himachal Pradesh and Alakh Prakash Goyal Shimla University. The complaint alleged the selling of around five lakh fake degrees by the above-mentioned universities. The UGC immediately alerted the state government and demanded a probe into the matter.
The probe revealed that both universities were running a multi-crore fake degree racket.
According to the probe initiated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), Manav Bharti University allegedly sold more than 36,000 fake degrees across 17 states. The university acted as the central force in the scam for more than a decade.
The Himachal Pradesh government gave permission to the Manav Bharti Charitable Trust to run the university in 2009, after rejecting the request in 2008.
The charitable trust has two universities, both in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. The investigation revealed that out of 41,000 degrees issued by the university, only 5,000 were reportedly genuine.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) froze assets worth ₹194.17 crore, including land, houses, commercial buildings, and fixed deposits owned by MBU’s chairman, Raj Kumar Rana, and his family.
The ED proceeded with this action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). An official from the SIT stated that the number of fake degrees sold by the university could be much higher than what was discovered. “The numbers could be more. We have come across lots of digital evidence suggesting that more degrees were sold,” said a SIT official.
It was disclosed that degrees related to technical subjects were sold to students from Himachal Pradesh and other states at a whopping amount ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakh.
The investigation further revealed that the manager of MBU sold these fake degrees to buyers outside the state with the help of ‘agents’. These agents reportedly received large commissions to carry out their tasks. They would collect money from the buyers and then forward the candidate’s details to the university to issue the fake degree.
The scam did not end there. In July 2025, the ED seized seven properties worth ₹1.74 crore under the PMLA Act. The properties were owned by Abhishek Gupta, Himanshu Sharma, and Ajay Kumar.
They were commission agents accused in the controversial Manav Bharti University fake degree fraud. One fake degree scam generated large sums of money, which were divided among several accomplices.
The Enforcement Directorate disclosed that the commission agents who partnered with the university received a share of the illegal proceeds in the form of commission.
The fake degree fraud generated proceeds of crime (POC) estimated at ₹387 crore. This illegal money was further used by chairman Rana and his associates to purchase properties and other assets in multiple states.
The ED seized another property worth ₹5.8 crore in January 2025. Adding to the previously seized properties, the total now stands at a monumental ₹202 crore in the Manav Bharti University fake degree scam.
When the fake degree fraud surfaced in 2021, it even managed to create a ripple effect that transcended borders. The aftermath of the scam was mainly faced by alumni who graduated from the university and were working abroad.
After the high-profile fake degree scam became public, employers outside India grew concerned. Employers in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, South Africa, the United States, and Canada started demanding their employees from the said university to prove that their degree was not bogus.
The tale of fake degree scams does not end with Manav Bharti University. The case is only the tip of the iceberg. With many reports emerging of fake degree rackets across the country, the rising concern is whether a person in the working sector holds a genuine degree or not.
If not, then should there be mandatory and rigorous background checks of educational qualifications of candidates? The potential risks posed by these fake degree holders are humongous.
[Rh/VS]
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