Deputy director of social welfare dept arrested

Haridwar: Wanted in 15 cases of the alleged multi-crore SC/ST scholarship scam,

deputy director

of the social welfare department was arrested by the SIT on Saturday.

He was held last year by the SIT on the same charges, but his role surfaced in other cases of the scholarship scam after which police asked him to produce himself before them, which he "ignored".

A team was formed by the SIT and he was nabbed from Delhi.

SIT head Manju Nath TC said that Anurag Shankhdhar was suspended by the department and his role was found in 15 cases of the scam in Dehradun and Haridwar in which "he helped the owners of different colleges and institutions to get the scholarship on behalf of fake admissions and documents of the students".

Shankdhar is believed to be the mastermind, sources said. The accused has been booked under section of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the officials, 22 institutions were involved in the scam with a total scholarship amount of over Rs 22 crore. During the investigation, the SIT also found that some of the educational institutions had shown fake affiliations and the scholarship amount was directly transferred to the institutions' bank account.

The SIT during the investigation had pressed 51 cases in Haridwar and 32 cases in Dehradun district against officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act.