Himachal scholarship scam: ED attaches assets worth Rs 4.42 crore of KC Educational and Social Welfare Society

Tribune News Service

Bhanu P Lohumi

Shimla, April 1

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 4.42 crore of KC Educational and Social Welfare Society, Una, under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) in the post-matric scholarship scam.

The ED had initiated money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI under various Sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The probe revealed that an amount to the tune of Rs 4.42 crore had been fraudulently received in the guise of scholarships to students of the SC/ST/OBC category. Investigation further revealed that the Society purchased land and constructed a building block by utilising proceeds of crime generated by receiving scholarships fraudulently.

Sources said immovable properties in the form of two plots of land and a building block located in Pandoga, Una, in Himachal worth Rs 4.42 crore have been attached.

Earlier, physical verification of students listed for scholarships for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward classes by the KC Group of Institutions by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had pointed out that there was no student on ground and the list was fake.

CBI teams which visited Bharmaur, Pangi, Chamba, parts of Kangra, Banjar and Manali in Kullu had found that about 800 to 1,000 students listed by the KC Group of Institutions did not exist on ground and the institution had taken scholarship money amounting to Rs 20-25 crores by showing fake students’ list between 2012 and 2017.

Moreover, the same students were shown in Pandoga in Una as well as Nawanshahr in Punjab. The lists were passed by the Education Department without verification and scholarship money was released.

The CBI had registered a case under Sections 409,419,465,466 and 471 of IPC on May 8, 2019, and filed chargesheet against twelve persons, including six officials of the Directorate of Higher Education, five key functionaries of the KC Group of Institutions, Pandoga, Una, and the head cashier of the Central Bank of India, Nawanshahr (Punjab), on March 30, 2020.

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