CBI files FIR in minority scholarship 'scam' case, invokes criminal conspiracy charges

The suspected accused include unnamed officials of the government, officials of several PSU banks, and nodal officers of 830 different institutions. This case will be investigated in 18 states.

The complaint states that for the last 5 years, between the years 2017-22, approximately 65 lakh students received minority scholarships every year from the central government under 3 different schemes namely: Pre-Matric Scholarships, Post-Matric Scholarships, and Merit- cum-Means for the students of Six Minority Communities i.e. Muslims, Christian, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parasis. These scholarships are all DBT schemes where students receive funds directly into their bank accounts.

After receiving reports of fund embezzlement, the ministry has engaged the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to carry out Third Party Evaluation of the Scholarship Scheme. An evaluation was also carried out through the national scholarship portal to flag suspicious institutions and applications.

Based on the evaluation, a total of 830 institutions were found to be fake, partially fake, or non-operational. The total loss to the exchequer has been estimated at Rs 144.33 crores.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs said a total of 1,572 institutes were identified for evaluation based on red flags generated on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP). “Out of 1,572 institutions from 21 states, 830 institutions are found either non-operational or fake or partial fake," it said.

The most striking irregularity was found at the school/institution level, where the team came across many institutions which are completely non-operational but are availing the benefits of the scheme, the ministry said.

Many schools from states like West Bengal have most applicants listed as fake are either from operating primary or pre-primary classes or no minority students studying in the schools, it said.

The ministry has estimated the approximate loss to the exchequer by counting financial implications for the period from 2017-18 to 2021-22 for the institutes that are identified as fake and found a loss of Rs 144.33 crore to the exchequer, against these 830 institutes, it said.