Guwahati: In a major development to the 105-crore State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam case, the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell arrested the suspended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma and her contractor son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh from Ajmer in Rajasthan. The suspended IAS officer was lodging in Cross Lane Hotel in the city, and a team of CM Vigilance arrested her in the wee hours of May 7. She absconded with her son-in-law following the Rs 105 crore SCERT scam unearthing.
Sewali Devi and Ajit Paul Singh were brought to Assam on transit remand after producing them before a court in Rajasthan.
Police also arrested another person, Rahul Amin, and one house help from the hotel.
The CM Vigilance earlier arrested six people in connection with the massive scam. One of the earlier arrested persons is Congress leader Rajesh Joshi. The others were Lakhinarayan Sonowal, Jayanta Lahkar, Ramizuddin Ahmed, Saranga More and Rubul Ali. IAS Sewali Devi’s daughter is also apprehended by the CM vigilance team from Guwahati. The corrupted IAS officer Sewali Devi transferred 4.5 crores of Rupees to her daughter’s account. Likewise, her son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh was awarded contracts worth Rupees 50 crores with fake contract orders.
As per police investigation, the massive 105-crore SCERT scam involves spending funds to offer a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) course under the Open Distance Learning (ODL) system. The alleged financial irregularities took place from 2017 to 2022.
Police sources informed that suspended SCERT Director-in-Charge Sewali Devi Sarma gave most of the contracts to her family members, including her in-laws. What is more surprising is that many of these firms’ Goods and Services Tax (GST) numbers were fake.
Suspended IAS Sewali Devi Sharma allegedly transferred funds from the official bank accounts to other employees’ accounts and then withdrew the money from those accounts. It has also come to light that Sewali Devi Sarma had flouted guidelines and rules and started 347 centres for the D.El.Ed. Course under Open Distance Learning (ODL)—288 more than the number of centres for which the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had given permission. Most of these centres were allegedly fake ones.
