Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Allahabad Sub-Zone has arrested Shivam Gupta, Chairman of Dr. Om Prakash Institute of Management & Technology and three other group colleges/schools, under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 on March 1st 2024 in Post Matric Scholarship Scam. Shivam Gupta was actively involved in fraudulently availing the scholarship in the name of ineligible students. The accused was not joining the investigation even after issuing various summons, thereafter, Directorate of Enforcement (ED) issued Look Out Circular (LOC) against him. The accused was intercepted at Lucknow Airport while he was trying to fly to Dubai. He was presented before the Hon’ble Special Court (PMLA) in Lucknow which has granted ED custody of accused for seven days.
According to info available from ED sources, “Directorate of Enforcement initiated investigation on the basis of intelligence and the FIR registered by UP Police in scholarship scam against the accused persons. ED investigation revealed that managers and trustees of various institutes got fake students admitted to their institutes for namesake and applied for scholarship in their names on the Government portal with the sole purpose of wrongful advantage of the Government schemes which were meant for needy students. All the formalities in this regard were done by the institutes themselves through various agents. The scholarship received was transferred to accounts of colleges and thereafter withdrawn in cash or ultimately transferred to personal accounts of owners/ managers/ trustees or family members, thus, their actions resulted in embezzlement of more than 100 crores of Government money”
Earlier, five persons namely Ali Abbas Jafri, Izhar Hussain Jafri, Ravi Prakash Gupta, Vikram Nag and Ram Gopal have been aarrested under this case and all the accused are in Judicial Custody. Consequently, three Provisional Attachment orders have been issued with attachment of the immovable and movable properties worth Rs. 10.35 Crore. 01Prosecution Complaint and 02 supplementary Prosecution Complaints against 05 accused persons have been filed before the Special PMLA Court.
Further investigation is under progress