Cases filed in scholarship scam

The Uttarakhand police on Thursday lodged a slew of criminal and corruption cases over large-scale irregularities in awarding state scholarships, meant for the SC, ST and OBC students, to others.

The cases have been registered inUdham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Tehri Garhwal districts against a number of persons besides educational and financial institutions for committing large-scale irregularities in the distribution of scholarships, said Inspector General of Police G Sanjay Gunjyal.

Gunjyal, who is heading a Special Investigation Team, probing into the alleged fraud, said the irregularities include diverting scholarships meant for the SC/STand OBC students to general category ones, availing of scholarships by middle men in name of students on the basis of fake admission documents, non-verification of the addresses of students whose names appeared on the list of beneficiaries, Gunjyal said.

There was a nexus between educational institutions, banks and middlemen which executed the scam, he said.

The SC, ST and OBC students are given scholarship under a scheme of the Social Welfare Department.

Educational institutions which face cases are based in Hapur, Meerut, Rewari in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Haryana besides one in Tehri district, Gunjyal said.

They include Brightland College, Rewari, Rishi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Pratappur (Meerut) and Monad University, Hapur.

The lone institute of Tehri whose name has cropped up in the scam is Annapurna Foodcraft Institute of Management.

Giving an example, he said the Nainital's social welfare officer issued a cheque of over Rs 20.63 lakh in favour of Monad University, Hapur to award scholarships to 28 students.

But on physical verification it was found that the students in whose name the scholarships were issued never studied in that university, Gunjyal said.