The Madras High Court has refused to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered at the instance of Anna University Registrar in connection with a fake degree scam in which a few individuals had misused the name of the varsity to confer fake honorary doctorates on film personalities, including actor Vadivelu, musician Deva and others early this year.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh dismissed an FIR quash petition filed by one of the accused R. Maharajan and directed the Inspector of Kotturpuram Police Station in Chennai to proceed further with the investigation, complete it within three months and file a final report before the jurisdictional magistrate.
“The contentions put forward by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner is factual in nature and this court cannot venture into conducting a mini investigation into the matter. Therefore, it does not fall within the ambit of its jurisdiction under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure,” the judge wrote.
Noting that any finding on facts would also have a bearing on the investigation conducted by the city police, the judge said that in the light of the facts and circumstances of the case, he was not inclined to interfere with the investigation at the present stage and, therefore, not inclined to entertain the present petition.
According to the prosecution, the accused had conducted the degree conferment event at an auditorium inside Anna University campus in Chennai by misleading the university administration and the celebrities.
