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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against A.L. Ramanathan, then professor at the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and five others for alleged misappropriation of over ₹88 lakh.
The other accused have been identified as section officers Sneh R. Asiwal and Urmil Punhani, project assistant K. Murali, computer operator Ritesh Kumar, and contractual project staff Nazir Hussain.
The CBI has taken over the case, initially registered with the Vasant Kunj North police station on February 2, 2022, following the approval of the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor.
The allegations pertain to misappropriation of funds in projects handled by Prof. Ramanathan. The university constituted a fact-finding committee, which on scrutiny of records purportedly found that “wrong totals” were mentioned in the ledgers of different projects, leading to excess payments.
Following the findings, the university initiated vigilance action against the professor and others, and informed the funding agencies, including the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Department of Science and Technology. The committee recommended that licences of vendors who allegedly supplied fake bills through shell companies be cancelled, the firms be blacklisted, and criminal cases filed against them.
It also found that utilisation certificates had been manipulated, and recommended random audits of such certificates to verify their authenticity.
Published – September 10, 2025 10:08 pm IST
