Dhanbad district administration has lodged an FIR against as many as 105 persons including principals and office bearers of 96 schools, an official of welfare department besides middlemen for committing financial embezzlement in centrally funded pre-Matric scholarship for minority students.
The scholarship programme is controlled and monitored by the State welfare department.
So far preliminary investigation has ascertained scam worth Rs 9.99 crore in Dhanbad on the name of scholarship in the financial year 2019-2020. But sources said that the scale of the scam may be huge as similar complaints have been received from other districts like Ranchi, Latehar, Ramgarh, Lohardaga and Sahibganj, also where funds were withdrawn by creating fake beneficiaries.
The FIR was lodged under section 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120 B and 34 of IPC besides sections of Information and Technology Act.
Dhanbad district administration is also set to submit a 59-page probe report to the State government prepared by a probe team led by the Additional District Magistrate (Law and Order) Chandan Kumar. The report is believed to have named key players of the scam. The report has recommended in-depth investigation to unearth the scam including investigation of Call Detail Records (CDRs) of suspects to establish their criminal connections.
A daily vernacular claimed that the probe report has recommended that the role of Kamal Khan, the then chairperson of Jharkhand State Minority Commission needed to be probed. But Khan who is a senior BJP leader said that his name was unnecessarily dragged in the scam.