By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 22 Apr: The Dehradun unit of Enforcement Directorate has attached the property worth Rs 5.62 crore belonging to Seth Bimal Prasad Jain Educational Trust, which runs educational institutes by the name of Phoenix Group of Institutions in Roorkee on a provisional basis.
The Enforcement Directorate has informed that the property of the trust has been provisionally attached in connection with the scam related to SC/ST scholarships. It may be recalled that some years ago, a major scam had come to light where a large number of educational institutions were found to be falsely claiming SC/ST Scholarship from the government and in most cases, scholarships were not being given to the genuine SC and ST students.
In this particular case, FIR had been registered by Haridwar Police based on which, the Enforcement Directorate had come into picture and began investigating the case. The investigation is being carried out under PMLA (the money laundering act) and case registered under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). During the course of investigation, it was found out that Phoenix Group of Institutions in Roorkee had fraudulently received huge sums of scholarship funds, in the name of SC and ST students from the social welfare department, between the period 2011-12 and 2014-15. This funding had been received through false representations and the amount was embezzled and siphoned off. This had caused huge financial loss to the state exchequer. This money was utilised by the trust to meet other expenses of the institutions as well as withdrawn in form of cash and distributed among the trustees.
It may further be pertinent to remind here that a large number of institutions are still being investigated for similar crimes. Some officials of the Social Welfare Department also faced arrest and suspension but no top official was suspended for this scam.
Dehradun, 22 Apr: The Dehradun unit of Enforcement Directorate has attached the property worth Rs 5.62 crore belonging to Seth Bimal Prasad Jain Educational Trust, which runs educational institutes by the name of Phoenix Group of Institutions in Roorkee on a provisional basis.
The Enforcement Directorate has informed that the property of the trust has been provisionally attached in connection with the scam related to SC/ST scholarships. It may be recalled that some years ago, a major scam had come to light where a large number of educational institutions were found to be falsely claiming SC/ST Scholarship from the government and in most cases, scholarships were not being given to the genuine SC and ST students.
In this particular case, FIR had been registered by Haridwar Police based on which, the Enforcement Directorate had come into picture and began investigating the case. The investigation is being carried out under PMLA (the money laundering act) and case registered under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC). During the course of investigation, it was found out that Phoenix Group of Institutions in Roorkee had fraudulently received huge sums of scholarship funds, in the name of SC and ST students from the social welfare department, between the period 2011-12 and 2014-15. This funding had been received through false representations and the amount was embezzled and siphoned off. This had caused huge financial loss to the state exchequer. This money was utilised by the trust to meet other expenses of the institutions as well as withdrawn in form of cash and distributed among the trustees.
It may further be pertinent to remind here that a large number of institutions are still being investigated for similar crimes. Some officials of the Social Welfare Department also faced arrest and suspension but no top official was suspended for this scam.
