The Aluva West police have registered a first information report (FIR) against Coimbatore-based Sree Narayana Guru College and its department head on charges including cheating and forgery, based on a complaint filed by a PhD scholar.
The petitioner, Sachu Muraleedharan, a PhD scholar at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamassery, had earlier filed a private petition before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Aluva, which subsequently directed the police to take appropriate action.
The police have arraigned the college, represented by its chairman, and Maria Yesuraja, Professor and head of the Department of Social Work, as the first and second accused respectively. They have been charged under Sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 314 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 318 (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to the FIR, the petitioner was allegedly cheated of ₹26,000 after being promised that his research paper would be published in the Kanpur Philosophers Journal, which is included in the UGC-CARE List. However, the petitioner later discovered that his article had not been published in the genuine Kanpur Philosophers Journal. Instead, it had appeared in a clone journal that was not recognised under the UGC-CARE List, the FIR said.
The petitioner had presented his research paper at a national conference organised by the college on March 3, 2023. In his private complaint, the petitioner alleged that on May 5, 2023, the second accused informed him that his research article had been successfully published in the journal and forwarded what was claimed to be the published version of the article along with a publication certificate.
The complaint further said that when his repeated attempts to resolve the matter amicably failed, he issued a legal notice dated May 29, 2024, to the two accused, seeking fair compensation for himself and his research guide.
Published – October 01, 2026 07:59 pm IST
