Rs 500 crore scholarship scam: ED summons UP education group's chief, wife

LUCKNOW: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday served summons to Hygia Group chairman and his wife in connection with the Rs 500 crore scholarship scam. On April 26, ED had arrested three persons, Izhar Hussain Jafri, Ali Abbas Jafri and Ravi Prakash Gupta.
The trio were using the Hygia Group of Colleges to fraudulently obtain scholarship funds using Aadhaar and bank details of ineligible persons shown as students. During investigation, it came to fore that many of the said students were not even aware of having availed any such schemes in their names, said ED sources. According to sources in the ED, the scam is expected to be around Rs 500 crore. Hygia chairman Ishrat Hussain and his wife Rachna Jafri were served notices for recording their statements.
The ED had produced the three in special court of Ajay Vikram Singh to obtain the remand of Izhar Hussain Jafri, Ali Abbas Jafri and Ravi Prakash Gupta till May 8.
Sources added that the three will be confronted together and separately.
The ED had first conducted raids on 10 educational institutes of Hygia group across several districts of UP on February 16. It had also seized “crucial evidence of the offence” not only of these 10 institutes but also related to several other colleges and institutes which, prima facie, were found involved in the scam. The arrested trio, with the help of agents of FINO payment bank, diverted scholarship funds from students’ accounts to accounts of Hygia Group of Colleges, said ED sources.