Himachal scholarship 'scam': ED attaches assets of educational institute, promoters

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday said it has attached land parcels and flats worth more than Rs 18 crore of a Himachal Pradesh-based educational institute and its promoters in a money laundering case linked to an alleged scholarship scam in the state.

The action has been taken against the Maa Saraswati Educational Trust which runs the Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions at Kala Amb in Sirmaur district, and its trustees. The CBI has arrested seven people in this case, including an ED officer who was posted in Shimla and a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of its department.

The ED has also arrested six people in this investigation till now. The institute or its promoters could not be contacted immediately for a response to the allegations levelled against them by the ED. The money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR filed to probe alleged irregularities in the disbursement of scholarship by the directorate of higher education of the Himachal Pradesh government under the post-matric scholarship scheme for OBC, SC and ST students of the state.

An order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued to provisionally attach three pieces of land measuring about 125 bighas registered in the name of Maa Saraswati Educational Trust, located in Nahan (Sirmaur district); and two flats located in Panchkula, Haryana registered in the name of Preeti Bansal and Richa Bansal, trustees in the Maa Saraswati Educational Trust, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

Total value of assets under freeze by stands at about Rs 29 crore

The total value of these assets has been estimated at Rs 18.27 crore by the ED. There are some other educational institutes under the scanner of the probe agencies in this case. The ED said the probe found that the institutes involved in this alleged fraud received scholarship funds from the government by "verifying" details of non-existent students or those who left before completing their course.

In order to "fraudulently" obtain more amount of scholarship funds, "false" details of students were uploaded on the HP-e Pass portal (scholarship portal of the government), the investigation found.

"The proceeds of crime obtained by various persons involved in the offence were used to acquire movable and immovable properties in their names and in the name of their family members," according to the ED. With this attachment, the total value of assets under freeze by the ED stands at about Rs 29 crore.