CCRT scam: Accounts of pan seller, street vendor used to siphon off money

New Delhi: Investigation into the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) scholarship scam has revealed that to hide over Rs 50 lakh of scholarship amount, the arrested accused used bank accounts of a pan seller, a private compounder and a street food vendor.

On Friday, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police had arrested six men in the case, with investigators saying that the money originally meant to be paid for scholarships to children was used by the accused to fund their lavish lifestyle.

Investigators told Millennium Post that so far, they have detected 16 accounts where the Rs 50 lakh was transferred. They added that some accounts belonged to relatives of the accused, whereas three belonged to persons who are illiterate and involved in meagre professions.

"The main accused Sandip knew that no educated person would give him their bank account details to transfer the money. So he targeted these persons as they were known to him and the accused told them that he will give them five to 10 per cent of the money on every transaction," added investigators.

A complaint was filed with Delhi Police by a CCRT official from Dwarka claiming that the Centre had received many complaints from the children who won the scholarships and their parents about non-receipt of scholarship amounts.

"More than 500 children were affected by the crime," said an investigator, adding that the accused siphoned off the scholarship money to live a lavish life. There are many accused who are still absconding in the case.

Investigators further revealed that Sandip did not provide proper details to senior officers in CCRT whenever he was asked about the scholarship money not reaching to students.

Another accused Prosanta Mondal was running an NGO and his bank accounts were used for the purpose.

"Basically, we can say that the accused had formed a chain-like system, wherein the account holders provided details of bank account of the accused to get a commission for every transaction," said another officer.

The gang was busted by a team formed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bhisham Singh, led by Assistant Commissioner Aditya Gautam and Richhpal Singh.