CHANDIGARH: Indian Women’s T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been removed from the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) by Punjab Police as her graduation degree turned out to be fake. The decision was taken by the home department and Kaur is likely to be demoted to the post of a constable as her qualification now gets reduced to Class XII pass. Punjab Police decided not to initiate any legal proceedings against the cricketer.
According to Indian media outlet News 18, Harmanpreet, hailing from Punjab’s Moga area, had submitted her graduation degree purportedly conferred upon her by Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. However, on verification, the degree turned out to be fake. The university denied having had her as a student.
The case then went to the home department, headed by chief captain Amarinder Singh.
Harmanpreet, an Arjuna awardee, was earlier an employee of the Indian Railways. She had resigned from the railways job to join Punjab Police in March.
Meanwhile, Harmanpreet’s family had earlier denied the allegations. “She did her schooling from Moga and was then selected in the Indian cricket team. She completed her remaining studies from Delhi and Meerut. She was provided with a job by the Indian Railways on the basis of the same documents,” Harmanpreet’s father Harminder Singh had told News18.
In a similar case in February, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mandeep Kaur was also removed from DSP’s post after her graduation degree was found to be fake.