Rs 105 Cr SCERT Scam Accused Sewali Devi Sharma's Stenographer Raided

The Assam chief minister’s special vigilance cell raided the home prime accused Sewali Devi Sharma’s stenographer on Wednesday over alleged disproportionate assets. The case pertains to the Rs 105 crore State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam in which Sharma has been taken into custody.

The IAS officer’s stenographer, Ramij Uddin, has been accused of accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income. His name came up during the investigation into the SCERT scam. 

The probing agency raided his residence at Shankar Azan Path, Dakhingaon in the Kahilipara locality of Guwahati today. A case against him numbered 2/25 has been registered and further investigation has been initiated.

Meanwhile, Sewali Devi Sharma’s suspension order was extended by 180 days in July, last year in connection with the scam. She had been arrested along with her contractor son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh from Ajmer, Rajasthan in May 2023. Both the accused were on the run after the scam surfaced.

Sharma was accused of misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 105 crore while serving as the Executive Chairman cum Director of SCERT, Assam. According to reports, 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 IAS officer allegedly gave most of the contracts to her family members, including her in-laws.

The alleged financial irregularities took place from 2017 to 2022. Sharma has been accused of transferring funds from the official bank accounts to the accounts of other employees and then withdrawing the money from those accounts. She flouted guidelines and started 347 centres for the D.El.Ed. course—288 more than the number of centres for which the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had given permission. Most of these centres are allegedly fake with their GST numbers also found to be false.

Also Read: SCERT Scam: IAS Sewali Devi Sharma's Bail Plea Rejected