New Delhi, Mar 16 (NVI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against unidentified public servants and nodal officers in five states, including Jammu and Kashmir, in connection with the alleged embezzlement of over ₹11.4 crore meant for scholarships for students with disabilities, officials said on Monday.
The agency alleged that the funds were siphoned off through fake beneficiaries and non-existent institutions under the Umbrella Scholarship Scheme for Students with Disabilities, implemented through the National Scholarship Portal.
According to officials, the FIR names officials and nodal officers from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir for their alleged role in the scam.
The case was registered following a complaint by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which flagged irregularities in the disbursement of scholarship funds.
The department reported that ₹11.41 crore had been disbursed to 926 students linked to 28 institutions that were either non-existent or found involved in serious irregularities during inspection.
Investigations revealed that several institutions listed on the portal were either closed or never existed, yet scholarship claims continued to be processed in the names of students.
The probe also found that fake user IDs were allegedly created to upload scholarship applications and withdraw funds.
In one case, the Satyam College of Education in Jammu and Kashmir, which had reportedly shut down in 2017, was still shown as enrolling students who received scholarship benefits through fabricated records.
The CBI suspects that certain institute nodal officers, public servants and others conspired to push fraudulent applications through the portal, causing a significant loss to the government exchequer.—(NVI)
