Patna, Feb. 6: Alleging a massive, statewide "scholarship scam" running into several crores of rupees, the BJP today made public a list of 60 fake students belonging to a district who were provided post-matriculation scholarship meant for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students.
The party demanded a thorough investigation of the scam by an independent agency to unravel it completely and book the persons involved. It has also promised to make further revelations in the scam in the coming days.
These 60 students were shown in the state government records as natives of eight different circles in Nawada district. They took admission to 12 different technical institutes in Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka during the 2012-13 financial year to pursue various courses.
"Circle officers in Nawada recently investigated the addresses given by the 60 students and found out that nobody in with those names lived there. But their scholarships amounting to Rs 1.03 crore had already been paid via cheques to their respective colleges or institutes in 2015, a good three years after they had taken admission," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.
To top it, five Dehradun-based institutions in which 50 of these students had taken admission also turned out to be non-existent. As per documents provided by Modi, these are Door Visions School, Grand Valley Institute of Technology, Gyan Sarovar Institute of Technology, Guru Nanak Group of Institute and Shri Krishna College of Engineering.
"The other seven technical institutes, where just one or two of these fake students were enrolled, are also dubious ones. It is a serious fraud and investigation should be conducted find out who got the money and became rich at the cost of poor Dalit students of our state," Modi said.
However, SC and ST welfare department secretary S.M. Raju said: "We investigated the matter last year and took action. An FIR was lodged against the institutes concerned. Departmental proceedings have been initiated against the district welfare officer and other officials."
Raju said verification was being done in other districts as well but refused to comment on Modi's allegations that the scam was across the state. "I don't know about any other case. We will take action if specific information is provided," he added.
