Two Arrested For Ranchi For Rs 4 Cr Scholarship, Solar Equipment Fraud In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday brought two accused in multi-state scholarship and solar equipment fraud of Vastav India Trust to Cuttack on transmit remand following their arrest at Ranchi, Jharkhand, on December 11.

They have been identified as Tanweer Nazri and Md Abdul Hasnain, president and secretary of Vastav India Trust respectively.

According to an EOW release, they were arrested on the basis of an enquiry conducted on a petition of Sebati Mahanta and others against Vastav India Trust, alleging that it duped public and parents on the pretext of selling/supplying LED bulbs under its solar awareness programme and giving pre-matric scholarship to the students under ‘Chuuloo Aasman’ programme to the tune of Rs 4 crore.

The ‘Vastav India Trust’ registered with Sub-Registrar, Ranchi, Jharkhand, opened an office at Bomikhal, Bhubaneswar, in March 2022.

Under solar awareness programme, they used to collect Rs.1650 from each applicant as membership fee with assurance to supply them with LED bulbs. The survey application form had a forged logo of the Ministry of MSME to win the trust of the general public. In their pre-matric scholarship programme, the trust offered Rs 1000/month for up to 24 months on a one-time deposit of Rs 3,000 as membership charge. The scholarship amount was payable to the bank account opened in the name of the parents of the students concerned. To facilitate its fraudulent activities, the trust had appointed block coordinators and other officials in Sundargarh, Bhadrak, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Balangir and Dhenkanal districts.

In this way, the trust collected approximately Rs 4 crore from more than 3500 persons, both public and parents. After taking one-time membership fees, the trust initially sent Rs 1,000 each to some students but did never pay any amount thereafter.

Subsequently, the trust and the office bearers vanished by closing down their offices.

During the investigation, many incriminating documents like the trust deed of Vastav India Trust, and fake money receipts issued to the investors were seized.

The field of operation of the Trust is spread across Odisha, Jharkhand, Delhi and Bihar, the release added.