Uttarakhand: ED files chargesheet in SC/ST scholarship funds embezzlement case

Dehradun, Aug 8 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint in an Uttarakhand court against Vardhman Educational Society and others in connection with embezzlement of SC/ST scholarship funds, an official said on Friday.

The Congress-era scholarship scam in the hill state allegedly resulted in the swindling of over Rs 500 crore by way of registration of ghost students and using fake certificates to release government funds.

The Dehradun zonal office of the ED filed the prosecution complaint before the Special Court (PMLA) against the Society, its Chairman Sharad Gupta and other members along with officials of District Social Welfare Office, Haridwar.

In March last year, the ED attached the society’s immovable property in form of a land and building situated in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, under the provisions of PMLA 2002. The property was valued at about Rs 1 crore.

Vardhaman Educational Society runs Institute of Management Studies and IMS Institute of Technology, both at Roorkee.

The ED, in its investigation, found that the society fraudulently received the amount for scholarship from the Social Welfare Department, Haridwar, for the period 2013-14 to 2016-17.

The money which was meant for providing scholarship to needy and deprived students was siphoned off into personal accounts of college owners and the Chairman of the education society.

The ED further found that the institution had made fraudulent claims to obtain the sum under the SC/ST scholarship scheme, before diverting the amount into bank accounts of the owners.

The case hit headlines when the Department started receiving complaints that middlemen were collecting SC and ST certificates of students in areas like Chakrata and Jaunsar — in exchange for sums amounting around Rs 10,000.

These certificates were allegedly were used by the institutions offering technical and professional courses to admit “bogus” students.

The scam grew bigger as even the area Assistant Social Welfare official of the state government used to approve these admissions as genuine.

After the attestation, the government department issued a scholarship cheque and the money used to get deposited in the institute’s bank account, instead of the “beneficiary student’s” bank account, showed investigation.

--IANS

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