A Tamil Nadu court on Tuesday sentenced two school officials to four years in jail for fabricating records in order to siphon government funds. As per reports, the correspondent and headmistress of a government-aided school in Tamil Nadu were accused of fabricating the records of 187 students in the recently busted 'ghost student scam.'
An official release from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in Vellore identified the convicted as Karunagara Sanjeev Doss, correspondent, and Alice Thabitha Vijay Kumari, Headmistress of Vitva Ratna Villa Government Aided Primary School. As per news agency PTI, the school officials were also fined ₹35,000 and ₹40,000, respectively.
Based on the DVAC report, the school's strength was significantly lower than the strength recorded on the official registry.
By padding the rolls with 187 non-existent students, the school officials illegally secured sanction for six excess teaching posts. The report also added that the duo wrongfully drew government benefits of around ₹4,67,121 toward salaries for the unneeded staff and ₹2,762 meant for noon meal allocations, taking the total financial loss to over ₹4.69 lakh for the state exchequer.
The verdict, issued by a court in Ranipet, convicted the duo of criminal misconduct and misappropriation of public funds, sentencing them to four years of hard labour to reinforce strict accountability in state-aided educational institutions.
What is the ghost student scam?
A ghost student scam refers to fraudulent schemes were schools, training centres and other educational institutions list fake and "non-existent" students on official rolls.
This is done in order to make the institute eligible for government funds and scholarships and to claim illegal financial benefits.
In India, there have been several instances of ghost student scams. In 2023, the Centre froze its flagship minority scholarship schemes over alleged fraud involving fake schools, ghost beneficiaries and siphoned funds.
As per an investigation by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), a loss of ₹144,33 crore has been estimated related to extracting benefits from the minority scholarship fund.
According to a report by The Print, the second investigation by the National Scholarship Portal flagged over 6,000 institutes engaging in the ghost student scam.
The case first came to light in 2020, after the Ministry of Minority Affairs asked five states—Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Punjab—to investigate funds being siphoned. The matter was also referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.