BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has arrested two persons from Jharkhand in connection with an inter-state ‘scholarship and LED bulb supply fraud’ racket. Accused Tanweer Nazri and Md Abdul Hasnain, president and secretary of Vastav India Trust were arrested from Ranchi and produced in the local JMFC Court after which they were brought to the state capital on 48 hours transit remand.
EOW officials said the duo was arrested following an inquiry based on the complaints of petitioner Sebati Mahanta and others against the president, secretary, CMD and project in-charge of Vastav India Trust for allegedly duping public and parents on pretext of supplying LED bulbs and giving pre-matric scholarship to students.
The accused allegedly duped over 3,500 people to the tune of Rs 4 crore and disappeared after closing down their office in Bomikhal. Sharing more details on their modus operandi, EOW officials said Nazri and Hasnain, registered at the sub-registrar in Ranchi, opened an office at Bomikhal, in March this year and launched two programmes on ‘solar awareness’ and ‘pre-matric scholarship’ and started collecting Rs 1,650 in cash from each applicant as member fee with assurance to supply them with LED bulbs.
The survey application form provided by the trust was containing the logo of Ministry of MSME which officials said had been forged to win the trust of the public. In their pre-matric scholarship programme named ‘Chuuloo Aasman’, the trust offered Rs 1,000 per month up to 24 months on their one-time deposit of Rs 3,000 as membership charge. It initially paid Rs 1,000 each to some of the students and was shut down subsequently.
The trust had appointed coordinators in Sundargarh, Bhadrak, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Balangir and Dhenkanal districts, while its field of operation was spread Jharkhand, Delhi and Bihar.