The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked the wife of a constable in Meerut for a scholarship scam of around Rs 70,000 while pursuing her B.Ed studies, according to media reports. The accused has been identified as Reshma Saifi, the wife of constable Mohammad Arif, who is posted in Kanpur.
The couple got engaged in August 2022. Arif hails from Muzaffarnagar's Sarai Khedi village.
What is the fraud?
In November 2022, months after getting married to Arif, Reshma, who is a resident of Meerut's Kankerkheda, took admission at the Ismail National Women’s PG College. According to the rules, Reshma needed to attach Arif's income certificate while applying for the scholarship. However, she attached her mother's certificate to receive the scholarship grant.
In two years, Reshma received around 70,000 as part of her scholarship - Rs 33,710 in 2022-23 and Rs 36,360 in 2023-24.
UP Police books Reshma
The Uttar Pradesh Police has now registered a case against Reshma, and action is being taken against her. The Minority Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh has also asked Reshma to return the amount of the grant that she had received in the past two years.
Similar case in Hathras
A similar case was reported in Hathras last week, where the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested a former madrasa principal and his wife over a Rs 24.9 crore scholarship scam in 2011-13. The two were identified as Rajendra Prasad and Sudha Sharma. Prasad was the principal of Madrasa Abdul Hameed Islamia Education in Arjunpur back then.
According to news agency PTI, the case relates to alleged embezzlement of pre-matric scholarships meant for minority students in Hathras district during the academic sessions 2011-12 and 2012-13. An inquiry had found that 62 educational institutions, including madrasas, colluded with the then minority welfare officer and others to siphon off Rs 24.92 crore by submitting lists of fictitious students.
Prasad and his wife alone were responsible for misappropriating Rs 38.10 lakh through fake student lists.
