Yesterday, the CBI raided the residence and office of Manju Singh, joint secretary, UGC, for her alleged involvement in a corruption case during her stint in All India Council for Technical Education.

According to the CBI, Singh, who was the then Regional Director AICTE, South West Regional Office, Bangalore had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with the educational trust seeking accreditation for an engineering institution. CBI has booked the senior UGC official for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh from an educational trust for giving clearance to an engineering college during her tenure in All India Council for Technical Education, the apex body to standardize technical education in the country.

Singh, who had a long stint in AICTE, is originally a UGC employee. She came back to UGC recently, at a time when CBI was raiding top AICTE officials for corruption in granting council’s approval to technical institution. It is believed CBI action against Singh is as per a Kerala court directive. Also, there are various cases of corruption against Singh in AICTE.

Though UGC chairperson Sukhdeo Thorat and secretary R K Chauhan claimed total ignorance about the raids, highly placed sources said there was drama involving the raids. Few days before the raids, CBI had taken names of top UGC officials. The CBI carried out searches at the office and residence of Manju Singh, presently a joint Secretary in UGC, and offices and residences of Chairman of Kollengode Educational Trust in Bangalore and Palakkad in Kerala last evening.
When Thorat was asked he told to speak to Chauhan. On being contacted, Chauhan said he had no information. But sources in the commission and ministry confirmed the raids. CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal also refused to confirm the raids