ED arrests four over Rs 200 crore scholarship 'scam' in Himachal Pradesh

The ED on Thursday arrested four people, including a former official of the Himachal Pradesh higher education directorate, in a case linked to an alleged Rs 200 crore scam in grant of scholarships to SC, ST and OBC students of the state.

Four people, including a former official of the Himachal Pradesh higher education directorate, have been arrested in a case linked to an alleged Rs 200 crore scam in grant of scholarships to SC, ST and OBC students of the state, the ED said on Thursday.

They were arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Rajdeep Josan and Krishan Kumar, partners at ASAMS education group, Hitesh Gandhi, vice chairman of KC group of institutions (located in Pandoga) and Arvind Rajta, a former official of the Himachal Pradesh Directorate of Higher Education's scholarship branch, were taken into custody on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said a special PMLA court in Shimla sent them to its custody for five days.

Josan and Kumar through ASAMS education group and skill development society claimed scholarship under the post-matric scheme for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) students by presenting 'fabricated' documents, the agency alleged.   Similarly, it said, the KC group of institutions headed by Gandhi made 'bogus' claims for scholarship which were verified by Rajta.  Gandhi transferred the scholarship disbursed in the bank account of students to the bank accounts of KC group of institutions, the ED probe found.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in which it was alleged that officials of Himachal Pradesh education department, private institutions and banks were involved in large-scale misappropriation of disbursement of scholarship funds of more than Rs 200 crore.

The agency had carried out raids in the case on August 29 at 24 locations in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. It had seized unaccounted cash of Rs 75 lakh and froze Rs 2.55 crore lying in bank accounts during these raids.