The state BJP on Tuesday demanded a high-level probe into the scholarship benefits being given to SC/ST students by the state government for pursuing technical education in different professional colleges across the country.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, raising the issue of the SC students at Raajdhani Engineering College, Bhubaneswar, who were allegedly asked to leave the college by its administration over non-payment of fees, said: "The issue is not an isolated case but there is a bigger scam in scholarship schemes."

However, SC/ST welfare department secretary S.M. Raju, denying the allegation, claimed that he had gone through the case and after verification it has been found that the department had already deposited scholarship money of 30 of the 72 SC/ST students enrolled with the Odisha college and the pending cases were of those students whose details had not been provided to the department.

The students, on the other hand, are afraid of being deprived of the fourth semester examination in case the government failed to clear their dues latest by the end of this month. Loknath Kumar, one of the students, said: "In October 2014, we have submitted our Indian Bank account number to the college but the amount never reached our accounts."

Echoing Loknath's views, Basant Kumar, another student, said: "We are unhappy with the harsh conduct of the college but we are also thankful to its for allowing us to pursue our studies for 19 months. But we fell short of words to speak regarding the conduct of the state government towards the SC/ST in Bihar."

On the sidelines of his weekly janata durbar, Modi said: "I received a call from Loknath, the college student, informing me that the scholarship amount, including tuition fees, has not been paid by the Bihar government because of which the college administration has asked around 60 students to leave the institution."

Modi added that it was not the issue of students from East Champaran only but also there was a big scam in the SC scholarship issue. He alleged that some officials of the SC/ST welfare department in connivance with representatives of select colleges empanel only those colleges which pay "kick-backs" for getting empanelled in the list of engineering colleges.

Releasing the list, Modi said of the 58 colleges where the students can take admission none is premier institution. The list includes 14 colleges in Andhra Pradesh, eight engineering and nursing colleges in Bihar. However, secretary Raju said the department had included the institutes after verification.