The Assistant Professor Dhawankar is already facing charges of blackmailing and extortion levelled by seven heads of departments of Nagpur University
Nagpur: More skeletons are tumbling out with noose tightening around ‘tainted’ Dharmesh Dhawankar, Assistant Professor at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) in one more case. The Examination Department of the Nagpur University is now finding out how many candidates were awarded PhDs under Dhawankar’s guidance earlier and how many are being awarded the degrees now. Dhawankar is already facing charges of blackmailing and extortion, according to reports in local media.
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Tuesday 18 Feb. 2025
In another revelation, it has come to light that Dhawankar’s home served as the address of many students who completed PhD under his guidance. NU officials claimed this was “unethical”. The Examination Department of the Nagpur University is also probing where did the candidates who were awarded PhDs under Dhawankar hail from, what addresses they gave when they applied for PhDs, if they were in Nagpur while doing PhDs, if they completed the degree as per rules, what were topics of research, who evaluated the theses, and if one valuer checked the majority of research works, the media reports said.
The issue was highlighted by the Nationalist Youth Congress volunteers alleging that all these students neither did any coursework nor were involved in any research in Nagpur. They quoted the names of five students who received PhD under him from 2018 to 2020. Its district president Shailendra Tiwari has demanded that Vice Chancellor Subhash Chaudhari conduct a thorough inquiry into all PhDs awarded under Dhawankar’s guidance.
Some NU teachers claimed that Dhawankar was allegedly indulging in plagiarism to help such students in getting the PhD in exchange for a hefty amount. The media reports claimed that his modus operandi was to target those students who were working and did not get the time to write a lengthy thesis. He used to demand Rs 1 lakh and above from them under the pretext that he needed to share those with the external examiners and the university staff. He used to tell them that they do not need to write or submit a thesis and he will manage everything, the report stated.
According to some NU officials, Dhawankar also used to work as a guide in the Gondwana University but exceeded the number of students beyond the permitted capacity. He could be a guide at both universities, but he could not exceed the numbers. Now, the Nagpur University is seeking details from Gondwana University to inform on how many candidates he has guided so far. Even the exam section officials are taking out his entire information on the number of students who received PhDs under him since he became guide. Few years ago, he was the only guide in the journalism subjects in the city. Many things would be revealed from that record, they said.
