Uttar Pradesh: ED Arrests Institute Chairman in Alleged Rs 100 Crore Scholarship Scam Case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate, on Saturday, announced that it has arrested the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh-based Dr Om Prakash Institute of Management and Technology in connection with an alleged Rs 100 crore post-matric scholarship scam. Shivam Gupta, chairman of Dr Om Prakash Institute of Management and Technology and three other group colleges and schools, was taken into custody on Friday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said.

A lookout circular had been issued against Gupta as he was reportedly not joining the investigation despite the ED issuing multiple summons against him. The accused was arrested from the Lucknow airport while he was attempting to catch a flight to Dubai. A special PMLA court in Lucknow sent him to ED custody for seven days.

The accused was allegedly involved in fraudulently availing scholarships in the name of ineligible students, the ED claimed. 

"Managers and trustees of various institutes got fake students admitted to their institutes for namesake and applied for scholarship in their names on the government portal with the sole purpose of wrongful advantage of government schemes which were meant for needy students," the ED said.

This is the sixth arrest in this case by the ED. The PMLA case was filed after the agency studied UP Police FIRs registered against the accused.

"All the formalities in this regard were done by the institutes themselves through various agents," the ED said. 

The scholarship so received was transferred to the accounts of colleges and thereafter withdrawn in cash or ultimately transferred to personal accounts of owners, managers and trustees or family members, thus, their actions resulted in "embezzlement" of more than Rs 100 crore of government money, it said.

Three charge sheets have been filed in this case till now apart from the attachment of assets worth Rs 10.35 crore. 

With inputs from PTI.