Ashoka University’s two co-founder brothers have stepped down from boards and committees of varsities following the framing of charges against them by the CBI in a case involving alleged swindling of Rs 1,626 crore. A report by Shveta Mishra
Enquiries reveal that Ashoka University co-founders Vineet Gupta and Pranav Gupta have stepped down from the boards and committees of the university, after they were named in a case involving alleged swindling of Rs 1,626 crore by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Gupta brothers face charges involving criminal conspiracy and forgery.
However, the Ashoka University has denied any link to the case, which involves the Chandigarh-based pharmaceutical company Parabolic Drugs promoted by the Guptas. The agency has accused the brothers of cheating the Central Bank of India and 11 other banks.
The Reimagining Higher Education Foundation (RHEF), whose founders are linked to Ashoka University, had also received a licence under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act from the Union Home Ministry. The RHEF is setting up a technology university at Mohali in Punjab with an initial investment of about Rs 2,000 crore. As per RHEF’s FCRA quarterly statement of September 2020, available on its website, the foundation has received foreign donations from US-based Om Prakash Foundation. The philanthropic organization has since 2019 been contributing to RHEF, which has been operational since 2017.
RHEF has five directors, Vineet Gupta, Ashish Gupta, Mohit Thukral, Ambarish Raghuvanshi and Neeraj Aggarwal. Except for Aggarwal, the RHEF directors are listed in leadership roles at Sonepat, Haryana-based Ashoka University, which has been in news over the resignation of political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta and economist Arvind Subramanian as its faculty members.
The website of the Ashoka University maintains that Ashoka University is a private, non-profit university, and an unprecedented example of collective public philanthropy in India. Ashoka offers its students a multi-disciplinary liberal education, usually defined as one that transcends the boundaries between the arts and sciences, and carries a strong emphasis on learning across subjects. Such an education provides depth and breadth of learning, both by exposing students to diverse disciplines and by emphasizing scholarship and research. The University’s focus is on attracting the brightest students, putting them under the guidance of the most inspirational faculty, and developing a global reputation for innovative research. Faculty and students come from across the country, and the world, and Ashoka is committed to maintaining the highest intellectual and academic standards.
Ashoka University offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across the humanities, social sciences and fundamental natural sciences. The aim is to help students become well-rounded individuals who are able to think critically about issues from multiple perspectives, communicate effectively and go on to become ethical self-aware leaders with a commitment to public service. It claims that the University is helped in its endeavours by some of the top-rated institutions in the world. These partnerships extend to the development of faculty exchanges, summer abroad programmes for students and research projects. Its academic partners include University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; University of California, Berkeley; University of Michigan; Sciences Po, Paris; Carleton College; King’s College, London, Trinity College, Dublin and Yale University.
