Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrests 4 including 2 education department officials for Rs 10 lakh fraud

The accused allegedly embezzled money amounting to Rs 10,01,120 received under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

The four suspects were charged with embezzlement of funds from a government scheme. (Getty image used for display)

By Lalit Sharma: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) Tuesday arrested two education department officials and two private individuals for alleged misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 10,01,120. The amount has been received under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

A spokesman for the agency said a case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) in Ludhiana.

The four arrested have been identified as Rakesh Gupta – director of a government retraining center in Gurdaspur, now seconded as director of the government girls’ secondary school, Gurdaspur, Rampal – teacher at Gurdaspur training center, and now posted as director of the government secondary school in Pathankot, Jatinder Kumar – owner of Krishna Tent House and Mukesh Mahajan – owner of firm called Sigma decor.

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The spokesman said during the investigation of the matter, it was found that the further training center in Gurdaspur has received a grant under the RMSA. Rakesh Gupta and Rampal got together and created fake accounts from fake firms to appropriate the money they had received from the scheme.

The accused transferred the money from the scheme to their personal bank account and caused financial damage to the state by embezzling Rs 10.01.120. The amount was released to rent various types of services including chairs, tables, tents and others.

Further investigation into the case is underway, the agency spokesman said.

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