Kurukshetra University professor arrested for accepting Rs 20, 000 bribe

A team of the state vigilance bureau has arrested a Kurukshetra University Hindi department professor for allegedly taking Rs 20,000 as bribe from a M.Phil student, police said here on Wednesday.

Professor Pushpa Rani was caught red-handed on Tuesday while allegedly accepting Rs 20,000 as the first instalment of Rs 50,000 bribe which she had sought from a Master of Philosophy student in connection with her research work.

The professor has been booked under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and taken to vigilance police station Ambala.

A vigilance team had laid a trap to catch the professor red-handed after they received a complaint in this regard from the students' husband, said vigilance Inspector Ramesh Kumar.

In the complaint, the student's husband had alleged that she was being forced to pay Rs 50,000 for assigning a topic and providing notes for research work.

The student informed her husband who met the Professor Rani and recorded the conversation in which the accused suggested for paying the amount in instalments if they could not pay in one go, Kumar said.

However, Pusha Rani, maintained that the student had given her the money to purchase a few books which were referred by her.

The student had told her that it would be easy if she (teacher) could get her the desired books for which she would pay the money, the accused said.

When contacted Vice-Chancellor Prof Kailash Chand Sharma said the university authorities were unaware of the incident till the duty magistrate informed the Dean of Colleges before taking the teacher away.