Merit-cum-means scholarship fraud of Rs 13421168: Crime Branch registers case

Srinagar:Crime Branch Kashmir has initiated an enquiry on the basis of a communication received from General Administration Department on the complaint from Ministry of Minority Affairs.
The enquiry conducted, revealed that allegations made by complainant are substantiated as out of 474 beneficiaries 463 were fake and an amount of 1,34,21,168 had been credited to fake beneficiary Accounts of West Bengal with 317 fake beneficiary Accounts in the State Bank of India, 69 fake beneficiary Account in the Bank of Baroda, 69 fake beneficiary Accounts in the United bank of India, 05 in the Allahabad Bank, 02 of Bangiya Grameen Vikas Bank and 1 Beneficiary Account in Central Bank of India, as against 463 Bank Accounts of J&K mentioned in the application form of candidates who were shown to be residents of Qazigund Kulgam.
During enquiry it surfaced that the applications have been uploaded on the NSP through two electronic devices in the name of Shubankar Sarkar S and Salim Sheikh, residents of West Bengal who seemingly had the access to the Username and Password for uploading the applications and thereby furnished the Institutional verification.
The verification furnished by District Nodal officer Kulgam, the bank revalidation through CBS, by PMFS followed by digital signatures by Ministry Nodal officer and State Nodal officer has been instrumental in processing and release of payment to the 463 fake beneficiaries.
The omission and commission on part of the concerned officers, Shubankar Sarkar R/O West Bengal and Salim Sheikh S/O Gayas-ud-Din R/O Bedrabad District Malda West Bengal and others acting in deceitful and fraudulent manner by way of impersonation have caused wrongful loss to the exchequer and wrongful gain to beneficiaries thereby have prima-facie committed offences punishable U/S 420,468,120-B IPC r/w 66(D) I.T Act, 5 (2) PC ACT.