Mumbai: Woman, who bought B. Ed. degree, teaches at Vile Parle school

Bhavya Bandrekar, the Kandivli resident who teaches at Chandulal Nanavati Vinay Mandir, Vile Parle

Following mid-day's exposés on the sale of Mumbai University's Bachelors of Education (B. Ed.) degrees by a few coaching centres, one of our readers approached us with information about a benefactor - Bhavya Bandrekar, who has been teaching English and History at Chandulal Nanavati Vinay Mandir, Vile Parle, since 2007.

The source said Bandrekar, a Kandivli resident, had acquired her degree illegally in 2018, but it was declared null and void in October last year after a Maharashtra State Board (MSB) official informed the Mumbai University (MU) about the fraud. However, she continues to teach at the school.

Bandrekar had purchased her degree from one of the touts exposed by mid-day - Aristo Academy in Kalina, which had helped her enrol at Irene Institute of Education in Kalyan. The source told mid-day that Bandrekar is also an alumna of Chandulal Nanavati school and "is the favourite of its principal Neelam Moolchandani".

The first complaint
Dr Swati Khaire, MSB's chief moderator (English) and chairman of Questionnaire Committee for MSB, had first filed a complaint against Bandrekar at Santacruz police station on February 28, 2019. When the police did not action on her complaint, she started gathering evidence to substantiate her allegations and approached the police again on December 23 with the MU's help.

The police finally registered a case against Bandrekar under Sections 468 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code.

"The police registered the case only after we submitted a letter of MU, dated October 3, 2019. The letter mentioned that 'the Fact Finding Committee has found Bhavya Bandrekar guilty of malpractice. It has taken a decision that the B. Ed. result of the candidate be treated as null and void and the candidate has been debarred for appearing for any university examination for a period of three years'," Dr Khaire told mid-day.

The MU investigated the matter based on Dr Khaire's evidences that proved Bandrekar was not in the city when the last semester exam of B. Ed. course was held in 2018.

Dr Khaire said, "For Bandrekar, it is highly impossible to attend classes for two consecutive academic years between 9 am and 4 pm while simultaneously teaching at a school in Vile Parle West from 8 am to 3 pm. She lives in Kandivli, and it is impossible for her to attend her B. Ed. classes at Irene Institute and teach at the Vile Parle school at the same time. Or is she a super woman?"

A Mumbai University official said, "We had already declared the B. Ed. degree of Bhavya Bandrekar null and void last year and have also eliminated the name of Irene Institute of Education, Kalyan, from the list of our examination centres."

Proof against Bandrekar
Among the evidences collected by Dr Khaire is Bandrekar's train and bus tickets that show she was on a vacation with her friends and family when the B. Ed. exams were being held between May 23 and 28, 2018. Even her Facebook posts revealed that she was in J&K on May 24 and 25 and in Agra on May 26, she said.

Both Bandrekar and principal Moolchandani refused to comment on the allegations. Calls and messages to one of the trustees of the school went unanswered. Dr Khaire has alleged that instead of taking action against Bandrekar, the school management is "sacking the staff members who are raising their voice against Bandrekar and the principal."

"I do not look after legal issues. Another trustee may speak or I will connect you to our legal team to speak on the issue," Apoorva Nanavati, school trustee, said.

Senior Inspector Sriram Koregaonkar from Santacruz police station said, "Our investigation is ongoing".

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