By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Two finance professors on mandatory leave from Northern Kentucky University after a research misconduct investigation have filed suit against the former department chairman, who recently resigned.

Anju and Balasubramani Ramjee - who are married, tenured finance professors - claim that Shailendra Verma, the former department chair, intentionally interfered with their employee contracts with NKU by deceiving them about research he told them he conducted.

Neither economics professor Richard Snyder, the third person on mandatory leave, nor the university are involved in the case.

The university announced last Friday that after a year-long investigation - including hundreds of hours of evidence collection - Verma had resigned and the three other professors were put on mandatory leave. School administrators declined to comment on the nature of the research while some finance students worried about the credibility of their degrees.

The lawsuit, filed in Warren County Common Pleas Court this week, gives the first details of the allegations. Verma lives in Warren County.

It outlines a pattern over several years, starting in 1995, in which Verma and the Ramjees talked extensively about collaborating on finance research in particular areas in which the couple worked. The Ramjees claim that Verma would ask for help in the developmental stages of the work but decline assistance with data collection, statistical analysis or development and writing of the paper

The Ramjees names were then used at Verma's sole discretion, the suit says. And it wasn't until an unnamed professor at NKU wrote a memorandum to the business college dean on Feb. 6, 2002, that the couple learned of the school's allegations that data in six papers were fabricated and the discussion of results plagiarized.

The lawsuit also confirms the Ramjees are facing termination with cause, something university officials have declined to discuss. NKU Provost Rogers Redding had no comment Thursday.

E-mail kgoetz@enquirer.com