The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached an immovable property worth Rs 5.06 crore situated in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, belonging to the Aarti Charitable Educational Trust which runs the Amrit Group of Colleges, Roorkee, in connection with a SC/ST scholarship scam case. The ED officials informed this on Friday, April 28.
The total attachment, in this case, amounts to Rs Rs 12.13 crore till date. ED had initiated an investigation into the case under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), based on an FIR registered by Haridwar police. During the course of the investigation, it was learnt that Amrit Group of Colleges had fraudulently received scholarships, as per IANS.
Huge funds were received in the name of SC/ST students from the Social Welfare Department, Haridwar for the period 2011-12 to 2016-2017. “It was established that the institution had made false claims to obtain scholarship under SC/ST scholarship scheme which have been embezzled, siphoned off by Amrit Group of Colleges, and caused huge financial loss to the public exchequer with wrongful gain to themselves,” an ED official said.
The investigation further revealed that the money was also diverted to either the personal bank accounts of the trustees of the Aarti Charitable Educational Trust or to other accounts of the college. The funds were withdrawn in cash and utilised for the expenses of the trust, as per IANS.
It may be noted that in the Haridwar district, property worth Rs 1.45 crore (in the nature of land) belonging to Wali Gram Udhyog Vikas Sansthan, Roorkee, which runs the Techword Wali Gram Udhyog Vikas Sansthan Group of Institutions, and another property worth Rs 5.62 crore in the nature of land and building, belonging to Seth Bimal Prasad Jain Educational Trust, which runs the Phonics Group of Institutions in Roorkee, have also been attached by ED.
