NEW DELHI, Mar 16: The CBI has registered a case into the alleged siphoning of more than Rs 11.4 crore from scholarship funds intended for students with disabilities by “non-existent” institutes and students, officials said Monday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an FIR against unidentified public servants and nodal officers in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Jammu and Kashmir for allegedly embezzling funds from the Umbrella Scholarship Scheme, launched in 2018 after six scholarship schemes including the Post-matric Scholarship for Students with Disabilities were merged, the agency said.
Scholarships under this scheme were available to students of classes 11 and 12, as well as in post-matriculation diploma and certificate courses.
Bachelor’s degree and diploma and master’s degree and diploma from any university recognised by UGC/AICTE were also funded under these scholarships.
“The objective and allowances of the scheme for the post-metric scholarship, including the details of maintenance allowance, disability allowance, reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees and book allowance, are referred to in the scheme book (scholarship scheme for students with disabilities),” the CBI said.
The central agency had launched a preliminary enquiry last year on a complaint from the secretary of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, alleging that Rs 11.41 crore in scholarships had been paid to 926 students related to 28 institutes, which were either fake or showed serious malpractices during an inspection by the ministry.
During the enquiry, it surfaced that many of these institutions were non-existent or were closed while still claiming funds from the National Scholarship Portal, according to the FIR.
The agency found Satyam College of Education in Jammu and Kashmir had been closed since 2017, yet claims were filed in names of its students using fake user IDs created on the National Scholarship Portal.
The conspiracy also allegedly involved using functional schools without their knowledge, with 11 institutions across states such as Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Odisha reporting that they were unaware of the scheme and the alleged beneficiaries were never admitted to their schools.
The agency said it has also identified cases in which the beneficiaries and institute nodal officers hatched a conspiracy to siphon funds. In one such Lucknow-based college mentioned in the FIR, INO forwarded 32 applications for the grant of scholarships during the 2022-23 academic year. Of these, 24 students received the scholarship, and nine of them withdrew the funds.
Preliminary enquiry has revealed that during 2022-23, scholarship meant for disabled students was obtained in the name of fake beneficiaries by dishonest and fraudulent intention as part of a criminal conspiracy hatched amongst representatives of institutions, institute nodal officers, public servants including SNOs and others, causing wrongful loss to the government exchequer, the FIR said. (PTI)
