Rs 105 Cr SCERT Scam: Key Accused Sewali Devi Sharma Granted Bail

The Supreme Court has granted bail to Sewali Devi Sharma, the prime accused in the Rs 105 crore SCERT scam in Assam. The apex court's decision comes after the Gauhati High Court had earlier rejected her bail plea.

It may be mentioned that Sewali Devi was apprehended in May 2023 by the Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell (CM’s SVC) in connection with the Rs 105-crore State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam. She was apprehended along with her contractor son-in-law, Ajit Pal Singh, from Cross Lane hotel in Rajasthan’s Ajmer.

Along with Sewali Devi and Ajit Paul Singh, the sleuths of the CM’s SVC have also apprehended another person, namely Rahul Amin and one house help from the hotel. All of them will be brought to Assam on transit remand after being produced before a court in Rajasthan. In December 2023, her bail plea was rejected by a court in Guwahati.

The 105-crore SCERT scam involves spending funds in the name of offering 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. 

Devi allegedly transferred funds from the official bank accounts to the accounts of other employees 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.