New Delhi: Four people, including a former official of the Himachal Pradesh higher education directorate, were arrested over their alleged connection with a Rs 200 crore scam in grant of scholarships to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) students of the state, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Thursday, reported news agency PTI. The arrests were made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to the report, Rajdeep Josan and Krishan Kumar, partners at ASAMS education group, Hitesh Gandhi, vice-chairman of KC group of institutions, and Arvind Rajta, a former official of the Himachal Pradesh Directorate of Higher Education's scholarship branch, were taken into custody. A special PMLA court sent the four of them to ED custody for five days.
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According to the report, the alleged money laundering came to light in 2012-13 after reports that students of government schools in Spiti Valley had not been given their scholarship for the past five years. Later, an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) mentioned that the officials of the state education department and private institutions were involved in misappropriation of scholarship funds of over Rs 200 crore.
The central agency carried out raids at 24 locations in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi on August 29 and recovered unaccounted cash of Rs 75 lakh. The agency also froze Rs 2.55 crore lying in bank accounts, PTI reported.
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According to ED, Josan and Kumar, through their education group, claimed scholarship under the post-matric scheme for the SC, ST and OBC students by presenting forged documents, PTI reported.
Meanwhile, the KC group of institutions, headed by Hitesh Gandhi made "bogus" claims for scholarship and that was verified by Rajta, ED alleged.