CBI begins inquiry into 250 crore scholarship scam of Himachal
CBI has started an investigation by filing an FIR against the Rs 250 crore scholarship scam in Himachal Pradesh. In this connection, raid was conducted in 22 different cities of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.
According to CBI sources, the Himachal Pradesh government had given scholarship to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Pre Matric and Post Matriculation students of minority category, but some officials of the Education Department, together with the private institutions, between 2013-2017 siphoned 2.37 million in four years. Of the students issued scholarship 19, 915 students had bank accounts linked to four mobile phone numbers and 360 scholarships went into four bank accounts.
According to sources, the aadhaar number has not been used to give scholarship to 5729 students. In this way the private educational institutions put all rules on the line in the allocation of scholarship. Initially, the education department of Himachal Government had filed an FIR in the local police station, but considering the seriousness of the case, the Himachal government had recommended the CBI probe.
The CBI has registered an FIR and searched the educational institutions of Una, Kangra, Shimla, Sirmore and Solan, Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana’s Karnal, Ambala, Mohali in Punjab. Scholarship was issued by Himachal Pradesh Government in these private educational institutions. However, no one has been made accused in this case till now.
