Bhagalpur: Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manoj Kumar has given the go-ahead to arrest Prof Abadh Kumar Roy - vice-chancellor of BN Mandal Madhepura University and former pro-vice-chancellor of Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University (TMBU) - for involvement in a racket behind purchase of old vehicles while producing bills for a new vehicle.

Manoj also instructed University police station house officer (SHO) Samarendra Kumar to ensure Prof Roy's arrest along with that of then varsity finance officer Birendra Kumar Verma, then registrar Asutosh Prasad, then finance adviser M. Enual Haque, record keeper D.K. Mishra and civil engineer Anjani Kumar besides Chandra Prakash, manager of Bhagalpur-based Batsya Automobile Private Limited, for involvement in the racket. The SHO has been told to ensure the arrests within 72 hours.

SSP Manoj also instructed the SHO to register a case against the sales manager of the automobile shop, besides initiating probe against staff at the district transport office, for involvement in the racket. According to the SSP, a case was earlier registered with the University police station against the accused under Section 420, 409, 468, 471, 120 (B) IPC for purchasing an old SUV in 2016, following a decision to purchase a new vehicle. That it was a second-hand vehicle, first purchased in March 2015, came to light on September 9, 2016, when it went for servicing.

SSP Manoj said the varsity first gave a cheque to purchase a vehicle on March 4, 2016, but the shop did not provide the vehicle that day. "When it was delivered, the shop did not give the owner book till the varsity threatened legal action," the SSP said.

Besides, the varsity sanctioned Rs 14,29,384 for the vehicle against the quotation and later, without any administrative sanction, paid Rs 45,000 more for accessories. Also, the shop changed the SUV registration number at the Bhagalpur DTO, but varsity personnel did not protest. And there was no purchase order from the varsity despite an order from the vice-chancellor.

The purchase was not carried out by the varsity's finance department, but through civil engineer Anjani Kumar.

SSP Manoj said Prof Roy, then pro-vice-chancellor) was accused of not taking consent from the vice-chancellor and recommended the finance officer to purchase the vehicle.

An in-house committee and present vice-chancellor Prof N.K. Jha sent show-causes to some varsity officials. An FIR was registered with the University police station against the manager and sales manager of the automobile shop.

City deputy SP S. Aktar had made Prof Roy and others accused in the case but the SSP had to reinvestigate the case after the accused complained to Bhagalpur zone DIG Vikash Vaibhav saying the police ignored their points and filed the supervision without consulting them. "During reinvestigation, we found the charges against all the accused to be true," SSP Manoj said.

University police station has initiated steps for arresting the accused but a source said the police would require permission from Raj Bhawan before arresting Prof Roy, now VC of BN Mandal Madhepura University.