Government hands over probe in minority scholarship scam case to CBI

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Central Board of Investigation a case of alleged misappropriation of funds given under minority student scholarships. The central government provides scholarships for minority students under the scheme started in 2007-08. As per ministry data, ₹22,000 crore had been given as scholarships till 2021-22.

In 2016, the ministry digitised the scholarship allotment process and the money transfer was made directly into the accounts of the students. In July 2022, the union government stopped the scholarship given to minority students, totalling around 4 million, from Class I to Class VIII. The government had expected a major backlash, but since that didn't happen, officials got suspicious and an investigation was conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

The NCAER filed its first report, covering 1,572 minority institutions in 21 states, in the first week of July. The investigation found that as many as 830 (53%) of these institutions were non-existent or had no students registered. As much as ₹144.83 crore had been transferred to those who were claimed to be students at these institutions till 2021-22.

The case was handed over to the CBI on July 10.Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan had the highest number of fake minority institutions among those investigated. The report suggested that out of 62 institutions investigated in Chhattisgarh, all turned out to be fake. In one case, it was an institution for tribal girls at Kanker where minority students from Belagavi, Karnataka, were listed.