Probe Agency Attaches Assets Worth Rs 5.7 Crore In UP Scholarship Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 5.7 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Uttar Pradesh post-matric scholarship scam, the agency said on Thursday.

The attached properties are the college buildings of the SS Institute of Management based in Baksi Ka Talab area in Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, the ED said.

As per the federal agency, this is the fourth attachment in the case. Total accumulated attachments along with this fresh attachment stand at Rs 15.7 crore, it said.

The SS group of institutes owns and runs schools and colleges under the name SS in Lucknow city. In these colleges, various management courses (BBA and MBA) are being conducted.

The ED said that the chairman of the SS group, Praveen Chauhan, with the help of Ishrat Zafari of the Hagia Group of institutes and his staff, created fake documents of hundreds of students and availed Rs 7.40 crore in scholarship funds in their name from the government. "Out of those, movable and immovable properties worth Rs 1.7 crore have already been attached."

The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of intelligence and the First Information Report registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the scholarship scam against the accused persons.

The ED investigation revealed that managers and trustees of various colleges got fake students admitted to their institutes for namesakes and applied for scholarships in their names on the government portal.

"All the formalities and paperwork in this regard were done by the managers of the colleges themselves. The scholarship so received for the fake PH category and handicapped students was transferred to accounts of colleges and thereafter withdrawn in cash or transferred to personal accounts or used for land purchases, building construction, etc., thus, their actions resulted in the embezzlement of more than Rs 100 crore of government money from scholarships by depriving the needy and genuine students," the ED said.

Earlier, the ED said that six accused persons have been arrested in the case and all are in judicial custody. Consequently, three provisional attachment orders attaching various immovable and movable properties worth Rs 10 crore in the name of managers and trustees of the various colleges have already been issued.

One prosecution complaint and two supplementary prosecution complaints in the case have already been filed against five accused persons before the Special (PMLA) Court and the court has taken cognizance of the same.

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