Gaya, May 23: It is rare for the police to raid university offices but Wednesday morning saw a large posse of policemen, led by three vigilance DSPs, take over Magadh University (MU) premises here.

There was widespread panic as policemen sealed offices, seized documents and scrutinised records. Uneasiness in the campus increased further when the high-profile OSD in the chancellor’s office, Krishna Kumar, turned up later in the day and inspected the examination department, university library and the university printing press.

Additional director-general (vigilance) Neelmani said the raid followed directives issued by the chancellor to investigate specific complaints. The search and scrutiny are expected to resume on Thursday and more officers and experts are expected to join the inquiry team, said the ADG.

A large number of complaints have been received by the chancellor’s office related to alleged tampering of tabulation register, issuance of fake degrees and marksheets besides anomalies in the conduct of BEd examinations.

The chancellor had served a showcause notice earlier on the officiating controller of examinations Deepak Kumar following detection of a fraud in issuing degrees. Candidates who had passed in the second division were issued degrees indicating that they had secured first division marks.

The university is learnt to have dragged its feet over the inquiry. Exasperated by attempts to delay the inquiry, the decided in favour of a vigilance inquiry.

MU sources said the visit of the OSD three months ago, when Krishna Kumar sneaked into the campus of two affiliated colleges, which were locked on a working day. The blackboards in one of the colleges displayed simple multiplications etc taught in primary school. The OSD had returned with video recordings and summoned MU officials who had recommended affiliation to the non-functioning colleges, named after Lalu Prasad and Surendra Yadav.

Three former MU vice-chancellors, including a retired high court judge, have already been chargesheeted in a degree scandal. And the university has acquired notoriety for “selling” degrees to degree-seekers from all over the country. Some of the fake degrees issued by MU are being investigated by the CBI.