Jalandhar/Srinagar: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has swung into action after the government of Commonwealth of Dominica in the Caribbean flagged a fake university and honorary degree racket in India, leading to Kerala Police opening an investigation.
The office of the High Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Dominica in London sent a letter to his Indian counterpart in July on the matter. On August 20, Kerala Police registered an FIR under Section 420 IPC (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).
A copy of the FIR and the letter of the High Commissioner is available with Khabri Baba.
The letter refers to a fake institution called ‘Ballsbridge’ run by one Dr Pappachen Baby from Kollam district in Kerala.
Pappachen, who claims to be the ‘Asia Head’ and India representative of Ballsbridge University is the Dean of Ebenezer Mission International Institute in Kerala and has been distributing fake honorary degrees at functions held in Delhi.
University representatives are understood to finalise the names after a person pays a ‘reasonable handling fee’ for getting an honorary degree. The degree is reportedly also available upon filing an application.
In the letter, the High Commissioner said, “This institution is not registered in Dominica and it does not have a licence to operate as a Higher Education institute in Dominica. Further, the Government of Dominica has no affiliation with Ballsbridge University (sic).’ It also mentioned that there was no such university in Roseau, the capital city of Dominica.
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No arrests have been made. Pappachan Baby’s phone was also found switched off. Even Kerala Police has been tight lipped about the case and has refused to answer questions. The station house officer of the Kottarakara police station, Joseph Leon, under whose jurisdiction the FIR was lodged did not respond to calls or messages from Khabri Baba despite having had initial talks with the correspondents.
Ballsbridge University FIR by Khabri Baba on Scribd
Kollam Rural Additional Superintendent of Police Madhusoodanan S. said, “The police are reluctant to share any information about this case.”
Dr Pappachan Baby’s list of awardees includes India’s first woman Olympic medallist Karnam Malleswari, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in Sports Management, a South Kashmir scientist Dr Syed Basharat Ahmad Shah, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences.
Gunwant Singh, the owner of Mongia Steel, Kapil Pathare, the Director of VIP Clothing brand, Dr Eur Ing Bishnujee Singh, the CEO of Cayley Aerospace Inc, which is a US federal government-approved aircraft engineering and certification corporation based in Seattle, are among others.
Ballsbridge claims to be an ‘open international university’ comprising affiliated colleges and institutions with headquarters in Dominica and campuses in 17 countries like Zambia, Liberia, Ghana, Namibia, and Rwanda.
The fees of the courses mentioned on its website are in the range of US $ 4,000 to US $ 14,000. The honorary degree applicants are also bound to financially contribute to support a scholarship project in the Republic of Malawi, a South East African country.
On its official websites (www.acedu.org and www.ballsbridgeedu.org), the university claims to have a strength of 6,500 plus students and 30 professors. As many as 97% of its students graduate successfully, the website says, adding that its aim is to provide open learning opportunities to students from the Asia Pacific region and neighbouring countries.
The varsity website lists Prince Thomas Osemwende as its Vice Chancellor. However, he died in May 2014. He has also been mentioned as the son of King Osemwende of Nigeria. Thomas Osemwende’s four children, based in Dublin and across Nigeria, are understood to have been running branches of this fake university and giving away these fake honorary degrees.
It has also come to light that Pappachan Baby was in touch with Dominica’s Leader of Opposition, Lennox Linton. He also visited his house at Marigot in Dominica. Interestingly, Linton’s address has been mentioned as the official address of Ballsbridge University. The Dominican government is probing the link between Linton and Baby in this case.
Baby has been providing guidance, consultancy services and career counselling for all professional courses in the field of Engineering (BE, B.Tech, M.Tech and Polytechnic diplomas), medicine (MBBS, BDS. MD, MS, MDS, BAMS, BHMS, BUMS, BNYS) paramedical training (M.Pharmacy, Pharmacy D, BPT, B.Sc, etc.), nursing (M.Sc, B.Sc nursing, general nursing), management (PhD, MBA, MCA, BBA, BCA, BHM, journalism, BA, etc.) and other streams too.
The Ballsbridge Society for Education and Research (BSER) which run by Baby’s institute has been allegedly offering fake higher education awards and courses too.