Noida: An additional sessions court on Tuesday rejected the anticipatory bail application of former Gautam Buddha University registrar Vishwas Tripathi, accused of facilitating the siphoning of over Rs 5 crore in student fees during the financial year 2024-25.An FIR was registered on April 9 against Tripathi and 11 others on a complaint by the university management under BNS sections 316(5) and 61(2) for criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. The co-accused include finance officer Neeraj Kumar, accounts officer Shilendra Kumar Sharma, officials Vijay Pratap Singh and Mudit Kumar, and outsourced data-entry and office staff.According to the prosecution, regular employees of the accounts section, in collusion with outsourced data-entry staff, embezzled fees deposited by students. “Fake UPI transaction IDs and receipts were entered into the university’s fee collection software to create the appearance of compliance, while the actual cash was never deposited into the university’s bank account,” Special public prosecutor JP Bhati told the court.Tripathi, as controlling officer, head of the accounts section and drawing and disbursing officer, is also accused of deliberately failing to reconcile bank account statements against software entries, thereby enabling the continued misappropriation by his subordinates. He also held exclusive control over the CCTV surveillance system covering the accounts office, but allegedly withheld footage sought by a fact-finding committee.“As a direct result of his deliberate actions and concealment, financial statements prepared by the university’s statutory chartered accountant were based on fabricated and unreconciled bank statements, misleading the university and causing significant losses to the treasury,” the prosecution alleged.A three-member inquiry committee headed by former CBI joint director N M Singh found serious administrative and financial lapses, a glaring lack of supervision, and criminal misconduct during Tripathi’s tenure.Additional sessions judge Abhishek Pandey, rejecting the application, observed that the case diary indicated the applicant and co-accused had committed offences of criminal breach of trust, forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy and embezzlement involving over Rs 5 crore. “The offences are very serious in nature,” the court noted.Citing the Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling in P Chidambaram vs Enforcement Directorate, the judge held that anticipatory bail could be granted only in exceptional cases where charges were baseless. “Considering the entire facts and circumstances of the case, this court does not find sufficient basis for grant of anticipatory bail to the applicant,” the court ruled.Earlier this month, GBU terminated the services of Tripathi after an inquiry found serious irregularities in his appointment, including misrepresentation of work experience and failure to meet mandatory eligibility criteria.
