Rs 81 lakh scholarship diverted to private account
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 10 2018: On the charge of misappropriating a huge amount of public money, an FIR has been lodged against Manipur Minority and OBC Economic Development Society (MOBEDS) Project Officer Md Salauddin Khan and Assistant Project Officer Md Fazal Ali.

Meanwhile, an independent investigation by The Sangai Express revealed that Md Salauddin Khan transferred an amount of Rs 81,36,000 to the bank account of MOBEDS casual staff Md Fazal Ali in three phases which should be distributed to OBC students as scholarship for 2010-11 and 2011-12 .

The Project Officer even submitted utilisation certificate for the same amount claiming that it had been distributed to OBC students through direct benefit transfer (DBT) system.

Rs 81 lakh scholarship diverted to private account

Notably, MOBC Department suspended MOBEDS Project Officer Md Salauddin Khan and Assistant Project Officer Md Fazal Ali on May 3.Out of the total scholarship amount of Rs 81,36,000, Md Salauddin Khan transferred Rs 57,59,00 to the bank account of Md Fazal Ali June 12, 2015 .

Another Rs 16,21,000 was transferred to Fazal Ali's account from the account of MOBEDS on the same day.

Incidentally, both MOBEDS and Fazal Ali have their accounts at Vijaya Bank, Thangal Bazar.

Md Salauddin Khan wrote an advice note on June 11, 2015 and directed the Senior Manager of Vijaya Bank, Thangal Bazar to transfer the two particular amounts to the bank account of Fazal Ali.

The two amounts were transferred on the strength of two cheques signed by Md Salauddin Khan which were written 'in favour of yourself.

A similar cheque was issued on June 23, 2015 for transfer of another Rs 7,56,000 to the bank account of Md Fazal Ali.

An advice note was also sent to the Senior Manager of Vijaya Bank, Thangal Bazar.

Interestingly, two forged advice notes were found in the concerned official file which purportedly asked the Senior Manager of Vijaya Bank, Thangal Bazar to transfer the amount of Rs 81,36,000 to the bank accounts of students selected for scholarship.

Deceived by the two forged advice notes, everybody was thinking that the pre-matric minority scholarship for 2010-11 and 2011-12 had been transferred to the bank accounts of selected students.

MOBEDS even submitted utilisation certificate to MOBC Department saying that the scholarship amount had been distributed to students.

After the Government sanctioned the scholarship amount, MOBC Department deposited it in the account of MOBEDS.

Out of the total amount transferred to his private account, Fazal Ali, using self cheques drew Rs 20,65,000, Rs 7,60,000, 10,00,000 and Rs 500000 separately.

In the meantime, Fazal Ali deposited huge amounts against his account and all these were discovered from the account statement of Fazal Ali.

On April 19 and 24 this year, Fazal Ali deposited Rs 33,00,000 and Rs 21,07,000 against the main account of MOBEDS.

He said this total amount of Rs 54,07,000 was scholarship amount which had not been distributed.

The transfer of this scholarship amount to the main account of MOBEDS after the MOBEDS Project Officer had already submitted utilisation certificate only aroused more suspicion.

Fazal Ali reportedly said that out of the total Rs 81,36,000 transferred to his account, Rs 25,00,000 was distributed to students through DBT but the remaining amount was kept in his account at the advice of the Project Officer.

The remaining amount was later transferred to the main account of MOBEDS following enquiries by the Member Secretary, Fazal Ali reportedly confided.