Maharashtra government, cops to blow lid off Rs 222-cr scholarship scam

The government and the Maharashtra Police are close to blowing the lid off a massive scam in the statersquos education sector The police have launched a mammoth probe across the state with the help of 64 government auditors to look into allegations of misappropriation of funds amounting over Rs 222 crore disbursed under the Centrersquos postmatric scholarship scheme over the last five yearsAlso Read Twoday scanning window helped Mumbai University scamsters switch answer papersThe Maharashtra Police suspects that many applicants who didnrsquot fulfil the eligibility criteria were given scholarships under the central governmentrsquos postmatriculation scholarship scheme in the last five years Representational picThe scheme announced in June 2006 helps poor students from minority and tribal communities mdash scheduled castes SCs scheduled tribes STs Vimukta Jatis denotified tribes other backward classes OBCs and special backward classes SBCs mdashpursue their postmatriculation education While students from SC Vimukta Jati OBC and SBC categories are given funds under the scheme by the social welfare department the tribal welfare department takes care of STs The funds are routed through social justice and special assistance tribal welfare higher and technical education and medical education departments These four departments then allocate the funds to colleges as per requirementsThe first arrestsPolice sources say the web of the suspected scam began to unravel last year after more than nine cases were registered by the Gadchiroli police and assistant commissioners of the social welfare department and project officers of the Integrated Tribal Development Project ITDP arrested for misappropriation of funds meant for the schemeInvestigations led to startling revelations that the social welfare and ITDP officers had cheated the government of Rs 339 crore and Rs 13 crore respectively in Gadchiroli aloneRead Story Bihar toppers scam Heres what the fuss is all aboutFearing that a bigger scam could be playing out across the state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a highlevel probe into the fund allocationsAuditing onOn January 15 this year an inquiry was initiated under the guidance of Additional Director General of Police Training K Venkatesham and a special investigation team SIT was formed The SIT comprises some retired government officersThe Maharashtra Police also took the help of 64 local fund auditors attached to Konkan Bhavan in Belapur to nail the scamsters This team of auditors is assessing the numbers of scholarships approved in each district and the names of officers responsible any suspected embezzlement Of the 64 34 are auditing social welfare departments across the state and 29 are handling tribal welfare departments Each district has a separate social welfare and tribal welfare department2 govt officers nailedSo far the auditors have nailed two ITDP officers mdash one in Bhandara district for misappropriating funds of Rs 227480 meant for 15 educational institutes from 20132016 and another in Pandharkawada from Yavatmal district of embezzling Rs 557375 meant for 20 institutions in the same periodVenkatesham believes that the auditors have barely scratched the surface ldquoItrsquos still early stages Only two auditorsrsquo reports have been submitted The reports of 62 others are still awaitedrdquoAn SIT officer said the auditorsrsquo assessment will also extend to educational institutes under Phase2 ldquoUnder Phase1 the social and tribal welfare departments are being audited After this educational institutions will be put under the lens to ascertain any embezzlement on their part A final report will be submitted to the governmentrdquoWith input from Dharmendra Jore