Hyderabad: The city police have booked a case against eight private junior colleges in the twin cities for allegedly forging the signature of Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) Commissioner AV Ranganath on fire no-objection certificates to secure academic affiliations from the Board of Intermediate Education.
The case was registered at Lake police station following a complaint from a HYDRAA Additional Director, who flagged the forgery after officials cross-checked NOCs referred to them by education authorities. Police have invoked Sections 337, 336(3), 340(2) and 318(4) read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the accused institutions.
HYDRAA is the authority empowered to issue fire NOCs in the city. The fraud came to light after District Intermediate Education Officers of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy forwarded 76 fire NOCs submitted by various junior colleges to HYDRAA for verification. Scrutiny revealed that eight of these certificates were fake.
The colleges found to have submitted forged NOCs are located in Tellapur, Chikkadpally, SR Nagar, Mehdipatnam and Barkatpura. HYDRAA has written to the concerned District Intermediate Education Officers asking them to cancel the affiliation and operating permission granted to these institutions based on the fraudulent documents.
Police are investigating the extent of the racket and the role of intermediaries in facilitating the forged documents.
