The Enforcement Directorate announced today, Friday, December 29 that it has confiscated a building and land worth approximately Rs 2 crore belonging to an educational trust, as part of a money laundering probe connected to an alleged SC/ST scholarship fraud in Uttarakhand.

The agency released a statement stating that the Institute of Professional Studies in Roorkee is operated by the Deen Dayal Sharma Educational Trust, which is the target of the action, reports PTI.

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the institute "fraudulently" obtained scholarship funds for students from the social welfare department in Haridwar who belong to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) between 2013-14 and 2016-17.

The ED alleged that the institute received funding from the SC/ST scholarship programme by making "false claims", and the money was credited to the college's account in the form of student personal costs and tuition.

"The said amount was siphoned off by Vivek Sharma and Ankur Sharma, trustees of the Deen Dayal Sharma Educational Trust, and this caused huge financial loss to the public exchequer," the ED revealed.

After being withdrawn as cash, this money was allegedly "diverted" further to the educational trust's bank accounts or other college accounts and used for the trustees' expenses.

Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), land and a building belonging to the trust in the state capitals of Dehradun and Haridwar worth Rs 1.97 crore have been provisionally attached.

The ED case stems from an FIR of the Haridwar police, it said.