Photo: PTI
Barpeta, Nov 10: In a bizarre incident, a scam worth crores of rupees has taken place in several colleges of Barpeta and Bongaigaon districts in the name of Ishan Uday Scholarship provided by the Ministry of Minority Development for meritorious students from minority communities.
A vicious circle has fraudulently siphoned off crores of rupees taking the garb of students of several colleges in Barpeta and Bongaigaon districts.
The Barpeta police has been able to arrest five people including the principal of a college a few days ago, after two people were initially arrested in connection with the scam.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Barpeta District, Amitabh Sinha, said that principals and staff of some colleges are also involved in the scam.
The police had on November 2 arrested two persons identified as Jeherul Islam and Habibur Rahman of Jaherpam village under Barpeta Sadar police station area, for allegedly siphoning money in the name of Ishan Uday Scholarship.
Police also managed to recover laptops, computers, printers and some documents from the duo.
As per report, apart from the students, the police have also arrested the principal of Barpeta College, Manik Ali, along with the college's junior assistant Abul Bashar and junior assistants of popular colleges in Baniyarapara, Sajidul Islam, Khabiruddin and Jahorpam Gaur Salim Malik.
According to the SP, this vicious circle has got the opportunity to carry out scams in the name of Ishan Uday Scholarships of Minority Students because of being able to get OTP from some college authorities.
He stated that an investigation into the incident is underway and information has also been sought from the bank in this regard.
It may be recalled that since 2018, the vicious circle has fraudulently siphoned off crores of rupees of Ishan Uday Scholarship in the name of Barpeta-Bongaigaon College at Barpeta district, popular college at Baniyarapara in Barpeta district, Koyakusi College, Harendra-Chitra College and CK College in Abhayapuri.
Students who pass the Higher Secondary Examination with 75 percent marks are awarded the scholarship of about Rs 60,000 per year. Besides, the Ministry of Minority Development of the Central Government also offers meritorious students from minority communities of the State to study in some of the leading educational institutions outside the State under this scholarship scheme.
