Five persons, including two former vice-chancellors of the Lucknow University (LU) and two registrars, have been booked for fraud and cheating in a 13-year-old case of appointment of a lecturer. The case has been registered at the Hasanganj police station on the complaint of Prashant Pandey.

The FIR names former vice-chancellors S.P. Singh, R.P. Singh, former registrar Anil Damle, registrar S.K. Shukla and the lecturer Kavita Chaturvedi. In his complaint, Pandey has claimed that he had applied for the post of lecturer in 2007 but his application was declined while Kavita Chaturvedi who had submitted fake documents, was appointed to the post.

The appointment was made by the then vice-chancellor R.P. Singh, who headed the selection panel. Kavita Chaturvedi's appointment was cancelled by the Governor in 2008 on Pandey's complaint but no further investigation was carried out by the university authorities. Pandey collected all relevant documents through Right to Information (RTI) and then filed the police complaint.

"The applications of eligible candidates, including me, were overlooked to appoint a person who was not even eligible for the post," he told reporters. Meanwhile, former vice-chancellor R.P. Singh said that the appointment was made by the selection committee and as vice-chancellor, he had no say in the matter.

Another former vice-chancellor S.P. Singh said that he was not the vice-chancellor when the appointment was made. "The complaint against me is false and is designed to harass me," he said.