He alleged that a scholarship fraud to the tune of Rs 37.25 lakh was committed by Kumar, who had worked as a programmer on a contractual basis for around seven years in CCRT. Express Photo by Praveen Khanna
The Delhi Police arrested six persons, including a former employee of the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), for allegedly siphoning scholarship money disbursed by CCRT to young children in various artistic fields, police said.
The Indian Express had first reported about the alleged scam in the CCRT, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, in February.
Additional CP (Crime Branch) Rajiv Ranjan said the arrested accused have been identified as Sandip Kumar, a former CCRT employee, Vishnu Prasad Tiwari, Jai Prakash Pal, Prasanta Mondal, Kaushik Sinha Roy and Chandra Prakash Mishra. “They fraudulently siphoned over Rs 50 lakh of scholarship amount supposed to be provided to young children in various artistic fields at the national level,” he said.
He said Roy used to be a permanent employee of the CCRT, and had been working there since 2010 as assistant puppeteer. “He was aware of Sandip’s activities. But instead of complaining, he gave bank details of his friends to Sandip, asking him to transfer funds,” Ranjan said.
The arrests were made after G C Joshi, the director of CCRT, Dwarka filed a complaint at Dwarka (south) police station alleging that CCRT had received many complaints from children and their parents regarding non-receipt of scholarship amount. He alleged that a scholarship fraud to the tune of Rs 37.25 lakh was committed by Kumar, who had worked as a programmer on a contractual basis for around seven years in CCRT, police said.