Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Odisha, arrested two more accused, Nishant Prakash Jaiswal and Amar Danish, concerning the multi-state scholarship and solar equipment fraud.
The accused were produced before the Ld. Court of JMFC, Ranchi, and were brought to Bhubaneswar on the strength of 43 hours transit remand.
Based on the accusation Sebati Mahanta and others made against Vastav India Trust, both defendants were taken into custody. The complaint claimed that “Vastav India Trust” ‘s President, Secretary, CMD, and project in-charge had deceived the general public and parents by supplying and selling LED lights and awarding pre-matriculation scholarships to students in their “Chuuloo Aasman” program for a total of Rs 4 crore.
In March 2022, the “Vastav India Trust,” registered with the Sub-Registrar in Ranchi, Jharkhand, opened a branch office in Bomikhal, Bhubaneswar. Under the solar awareness program, they collected Rs 1650 in cash from each applicant as a member fee with the assurance of supplying them with LED bulbs.
The survey application form provided by the trust carried the logo of the Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, which was forged to win the general public’s trust. In their pre-matric scholarship program named “Chuuloo Aasman,” the trust offered a scholarship of Rs.1,000- per month for up to 24 months on their one-time deposit of Rs.3,000 as a membership charge.
The scholarship money was transferred to a bank account that the parents of the concerned children had formed in their names. In this way, the trust collected approximately Rs 4 crore from more than 3,500 people, both public and parents.
It came to light during the inquiry that Nishant Prakash Jaiswal, the arrested accused, had received a transfer of Rs. 10 lakh from the Vastav India Trust and that his wife had received a transfer of Rs. 11 lakh. Similarly, Rs 4.7 lakh was sent to the account of the apprehended culprit Amar Danish in addition to Vastav India Trust, and thousands of rupees have been directly paid to his account by the victims, according to a release from EOW.
