HP scholarship scam: CBI gets custody of accused till Jan 8

A court in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday sent former Superintendent of the Department of Higher Education to CBI custody till January 8 in the alleged irregularities in Himachal Pradesh's pre-matric and post-matric scholarship scheme.

A CBI official said that Arvind Rajta, Superintendent Grade-II, Department of Higher Education, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday, was sent to the agency custody till January 8.

He said that a local court in Punjab also sent two other accused in the agency's custody till January 8.

The CBI has also arrested Hitesh Gandhi, Vice Chairman of K.C. Group of Institutions, and S.P Singh, head cashier, Central Bank of India in the same case from Nawanshahr in Punjab on Friday.

The CBI has registered a case on the request of Himachal Pradesh government and further notification from Central government on May 7, 2019 against unknown persons under sections of criminal breach, cheating by impersonation, forgery, forgery of record of court or of public register and using forged documents as genuine.

The official said the CBI had registered a case against unknown officials for alleged misappropriation of scholarship funds meant for Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe, Other Backward Classes and minority community to the tune of around Rs 220 crore between 2013-14 and 2016-17.

It was further alleged that the income or caste certificates of alleged students were not genuine. The CBI had earlier conducted searches at the location of 21 private institutes in May last year after registering the case.

( With inputs from IANS )