By Arun Pratap Singh
Roorkee (Haridwar), 18 Mar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a major action taken in Roorkee (Haridwar district), has attached property (land and building) worth more than Rs 1 crore of an educational society in relation with the infamous scholarship scam. This educational society belonging to Vardhman Group is running two institutes in Roorkee and is linked with a BJP associated politician who has been an MLA in the past.
This institute, along with many others in Uttarakhand and from some other states, had allegedly shown a large number of SC and ST students to be studying in their institutes and had collected a huge amount of money running into several crores from the Social Welfare Department of Uttarakhand. This money was never deposited in the accounts of the so called students. It is further alleged that a large number of students were fraudulently registered. The two institutions related to the Vardhman Group had allegedly acquired many movable and immovable properties in Roorkee and surrounding areas of Haridwar district. All this had been done in connivance of the senior Social Welfare officers in Uttarakhand Government.
This scholarship scam of Uttarakhand had come to light after some complaints and the following investigation by the state police. As the scam was of a very large magnitude and the beneficiaries spread across several states including Rajasthan, UP and Himachal Pradesh, the case was taken over by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was investigated by the state police. A scholarship scam worth crores of rupees had come to light in the police investigation. After such a big scam came to light, ED took action in this case under the Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The scam had first come to light in 2017 and then was initially handed over to SIT by the Uttarakhand Government in 2019. The SIT in this regard registered more than 100 cases against many institutes of Haridwar and Dehradun district. According to the ED sources, the scam is now being estimated to be worth more than Rs 500 crores.
It is learnt that ED had sent notices in this matter to many colleges of Uttarakhand, UP and Himachal and now it has attached the immovable property of an educational society of Roorkee.