Barpeta, July 26: The employee of a college in Assam's Barpeta district was arrested on Monday in connection with the multi-crore scholarship scam case, police said.
The scam linked to the 'Ishan Uday' scholarship scheme, meant for undergraduate students, was first unearthed at the Madhab Choudhury College in the district in January. One of the employees of the college, Ratan Hazarika, who handled scholarship-related matters, was arrested for his alleged involvement in the scam, police said.
Names and roll numbers of students of the college were enlisted for the scholarship, but bank account details of people involved in the scam were given for receiving the scholarship money. Scholarship for 293 students, estimated to be Rs 188 crore, for the year 2019-20 is suspected to have been siphoned off, police said. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had introduced the 'Ishan Uday' Special Scholarship Scheme for the Northeast region from academic session 2014-15 for encouraging higher education among students of economically weaker sections.
