PANAJI
In a late night development, the Agassaim police registered a criminal case against suspended Goa University assistant professor Pranav Naik in connection with the alleged paper leak. The police have charged him with trespassing, breaking in, forgery and cheating following a complaint filed by GU Registrar Professor S N Dhuri.
As per the FIR, Naik allegedly made duplicate keys of the cabins of multiple faculty members without their consent and unlawfully accessed certain faculty cabins without permission.
"He breached the privacy and security of other members and also engaged in the assessment of examination papers for one specific female student, thereby cheating other students," reads the FIR, copy of which is in possession of The Goan.
Naik, police said, will soon be issued summons for questioning. He has been booked under sections 336(3) (forgery), 329(4) (trespassing), 331(3) (housebreaking or lurking house trespass), and 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Earlier, based on the fact-finding committee report, the Goa University filed an official complaint before the Agassaim police.
The Varsity has also decided to place the report before the Disciplinary Authority that is the Executive Council for appropriate action against the alleged accused assistant professor.
In a press statement issued on Friday, the University said that it had constituted a Fact-Finding Committee to submit a prima facie report on the alleged matter and based on the report submitted by the Committee, the University has lodged a complaint before the Police Inspector, Agassaim Police Station to register an FIR against Pranav Naik to investigate further on the “unauthorized unlawful activities carried out by him”.
“Further, it is decided to place the matter before the Disciplinary Authority i.e. the Executive Council, a meeting of which is scheduled during the last week of March 2025 for an appropriate Disciplinary Action against the said employee,” the University said.
The alleged professor is already placed under suspension pending inquiry proceedings.
Following a media report, two police complaints were filed in the alleged case at Agassaim police station. The police, however, were waiting for a formal complaint from the Varsity to proceed further.
Meanwhile, the State government has constituted a High-Level enquiry committee under retired High Court judge RMS Khandeparkar to investigate into the alleged matter of paper leak.
The other members of the committee are former DIG (retired) Bosco George, Former GU registrar Radhika Nayak and Professor of VM Salgaonkar Law College MRK Prasad.
