In a major development in the multi-crore Himachal scholarship scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case and started investigations.
“The CBI has registered a case in the multi-crore scholarship scam on Wednesday after Department of Personnel (DoP) gave go ahead to the investigating agency in the case,” said Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.
He said the Himachal Pradesh government had forwarded the case to CBI as several discrepancies were found in the distribution of funds to students.
The funds were allegedly siphoned off to other accounts rather than the bank accounts of around 19,915 students, mostly from remote districts of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur.
Nearly 2.38 lakh students from Himachal Pradesh register for scholarships every year and after cross-checking their record since 2013-14, the entire scam was established.
But as some institutes outside the state were allegedly found to be involved in the scholarship scam, the state government had requested the Union government for CBI probe into the entire case.
It was revealed that some educational institutes used to siphon off scholarship grants meant for students in fictitious bank accounts that were opened by them on forged documents.
Several government officials along with political leaders were suspected to be the part of this scam, estimated at around Rs 250 crore.
The scam had come to notice in July 2018 when some students of Lahaul Spiti district complained about not getting scholarship funds since the last five years.
The issue was then raised by local legislator and Agriculture minister Ram Lal Markanda and the preliminary inquiry report had established the inter-state links of the accused and the beneficiaries.
HP Police had registered a case under section 419, 465, 466 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unknown persons as directed by CBI on 17 November last year.