New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a regular case against unknown Institute Nodal Officers, unknown State Nodal Officers, unknown public servants and others for allegedly orchestrating a large-scale fraud involving misappropriation of funds under the Umbrella Scholarship Scheme for students with disabilities.
The FIR (No. RC2162026A0002), registered on March 11, 2026 at CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch-I, New Delhi, invokes serious charges including criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B IPC), cheating (Section 420 IPC), forgery of valuable security and documents (Sections 467, 468, 471 IPC), cheating by personation using computer resource (Section 66-D of the Information Technology Act, 2000), and criminal misconduct by public servants under Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).
The case stems from a complaint dated December 19, 2023, received from Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, IAS, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. Following this, a Preliminary Enquiry (PE 216 2025 A0002) was registered on May 22, 2025 and entrusted to Inspector Ravinder Kumar of CBI AC-I.During the enquiry, physical verification of approximately 100 educational institutions was conducted. It revealed that 18 institutes were completely fake or non-existent on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).
Serious discrepancies and malpractices were found in another 10 institutes. In total, ₹11.41 crore was disbursed as post-matric scholarships to 926 beneficiaries through these 28 institutes during the academic year 2022-23.Key findings from the enquiry include:
- Several institutes were already closed or non-functional for years, yet scholarships continued to be claimed and disbursed in the name of students with disabilities using fake User IDs created on the NSP portal.
- Specific examples cited:
- Satyam College of Education (ID: C-22993), Kathua, J&K — Closed after 2016-17; Chairman and Principal unaware of any scholarship claims.
- Anupreet Pvt. ITI, Shajalpura, Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh — Already closed; officials refused to cooperate.
- Sardar Bhagat Singh College of Technology & Management, Lucknow — Institute Nodal Officer forwarded inflated applications; 66 payments pushed despite only 32 genuine applications.
- Multiple other functional institutes across Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and elsewhere reported that no such students were enrolled and no Institute Nodal Officers had been appointed.
The enquiry established that scholarships meant for genuine students with disabilities were fraudulently obtained through fake beneficiaries, forged documents, and a criminal conspiracy involving Institute Nodal Officers (INOs), State Nodal Officers (SNOs), and other unknown public servants and private persons.
The funds were directly credited via the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) in DBT mode.
The FIR notes that the modus operandi involved creating fake profiles on the National Scholarship Portal, submitting forged documents, and misusing the digital system to siphon government funds.
The case has been entrusted to Inspector Rajesh Kumar, CBI AC-I, New Delhi, for further investigation. The FIR was registered on the recommendation of the Preliminary Enquiry officer and signed by Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar Sinha, CBI AC-I.
This scam highlights vulnerabilities in the National Scholarship Portal and the implementation of welfare schemes for persons with disabilities, despite direct benefit transfer mechanisms.The CBI has not commented publicly on the ongoing probe.
