GUWAHATI: The criminal investigation department (CID) of Assam Police has so far arrested 27 persons for allegedly misappropriating pre-matric scholarship funds, worth about Rs 10 crore, meant for economically-disadvantaged minority students.
On Wednesday, a CID team along with local police arrested an accused, Jahangir Alam from Tapar Pathar village under Chaygaon police station.
Alam, who is the owner of customer service point (CSP) of a nationalised bank, is alleged to have facilitated fraudulent withdrawals of pre-matric scholarship money meant for a large number of students of schools in Goalpara district through his CSP.
On Monday, CID sleuths arrested one Robiul Islam from Goalpara district, who is believed to be the mastermind of the scam and involved with several schools in submitting fraudulent applications for scholarships and withdrawal of scholarship money.
Of those arrested over the past week, four are headmasters, one teacher, four owners of CSPs of nationalised banks, a president of a school management committee, two electronic data processors and 10 middlemen.
A case (20/2020 under Sections 120(B)/406/409/419/420/468/471 of IPC) was earlier registered at the CID police station. CID teams have since been conducting raids in different districts.