105-Crore SCERT Scam: Prime Accused Sewali Devi Sharma Arrested in Rajasthan

Last updated May 8, 2023 12

Guwahati: The Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell (CM’s SVC) arrested the suspended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma and her contractor son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh from the Cross Lane hotel in Rajasthan’s Ajmer in the early hours, marking a significant development in the 105-crore SCERT scam case.

Following the unearthing of the Rs 105 crore funds embezzlement case, both the accused were on the run.

The sleuths of the CM’s SVC have also captured Rahul Amin and one housekeeper from the hotel in addition to Sewali Devi and Ajit Paul Singh. All of them will be brought to Assam on transit remand after producing them before a court in Rajasthan.

Six people who had previously been arrested by the CM’s SVC in relation to the massive scam were presented in court by the special judge.

Those who were produced before the court included Congress leader Rajesh Joshi. The others were Lakhinarayan Sonowal, Jayanta Lahkar, Ramizuddin Ahmed, Saranga More and Rubul Ali.

As per reports, the 105-crore SCERT fraud entails spending money under the guise of providing a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) course through the Open Distance Learning (ODL) system. The purported financial violations allegedly occurred between 2017 and 2022.

According to the reports, Sewali Devi Sarma, the director-in-charge of SCERT who has been suspended, awarded most of the contracts to her relatives, including her in-laws. What is more surprising, according to the sources, is that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) numbers of many of these firms were fake.

Devi is accused of transferring funds from the company’s bank accounts to the accounts of other employees before taking cash out of those accounts. Furthermore, it has come to light that Sewali Devi Sarma broke laws and regulations by opening 347 locations for the D.El.Ed. programme through Open Distance Learning (ODL), which is 288 centres more than what the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had authorised. Most of these centres were allegedly fake ones.