The Aryavarth Express
Agency(Dehradun): The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), operating out of Dehradun, has recently taken decisive action against financial misconduct within the educational sector by provisionally seizing property valued at around 1 Crore INR. This property, comprising land and a building situated in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, is associated with the Vardhman Educational Society, which oversees the operations of both the Institute of Management Studies and the IMS Institute of Technology in Roorkee. This measure falls under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and is linked to the proceeds of a significant fraud involving SC/ST scholarships, amounting to approximately 1 Crore INR.
The ED’s intervention follows an FIR lodged by the SIDCUL Police Station in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, which brought to light various offenses under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860 committed by members of the Vardhman Educational Society. The subsequent investigation by the ED revealed that the educational institutions in question had illicitly claimed and received substantial scholarship funds intended for SC/ST students from the Social Welfare Department of Haridwar for the academic years 2013-2017. These funds, meant to cover the personal expenses and tuition fees of eligible students, were falsely claimed by the institutions, leading to their deposit into the college’s account, from where they were misappropriated by the society’s chairman and its members, thereby inflicting a significant financial loss on the public treasury.
Further inquiries have uncovered that the fraudulently obtained funds were not only diverted to the bank accounts of the Vardhman Educational Society but also to other accounts associated with the college, ultimately being used for the trustees’ personal expenses and withdrawn in cash.
As the ED continues to delve deeper into this case, further developments and actions are anticipated to address the wrongdoing and to hold those responsible accountable for their actions in this scholarship scam, underscoring the agency’s commitment to upholding financial integrity and justice within the educational domain.
