66 booked for Rs 23-crore fraud in Mathura

AGRA: Police in Mathura have registered a case against 66 persons, including the suspended district social welfare officer and clerical staff of the department, over irregularities to the tune of Rs 23 crore meant for SC/ST scholarships and fee reimbursement scheme at private Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in 2015-16 and 2019-20.
Officials said that the fraud came to light when the Yogi Adityanath government formed a three-member committee to investigate the alleged scams.Mathura district social welfare officer Ramashankar said that the panel found around 5,000 extra students at various private ITIs who had illegally claimed benefits. Similarly, around 5,000 students of 23 colleges, who have not even completed the course, were paid a scholarship of Rs 9.7 crore apart from incentives to over 100 fake students in 38 colleges. He added that nearly Rs 2.5 crore was also siphoned off by 11 unrecognised educational institutes in the district.
SP (city) Udai Shankar Singh said that a case was registered against four persons from the social welfare department including suspended district social welfare officer Karunesh Tripathi and 62 top level officials of private ITIs under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) based on a complaint filed by the department.
Based on the findings of the committee, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered recovery of the funds apart from blacklisting such institutes. According to officials, the role of the State Council for Vocational Training, Lucknow, is also under scanner.