Three Arrested For ₹1.9 Crore Fraud At IISc Bengaluru; Fake Scholarship Documents Used To Swindle Funds

Bengaluru: Three youths, including two contract employees of Indian Institute of Science have been arrested for swindling over ₹ 1.9 crore from the institute, by creating false documents.

The arrested have been identified as V Soundarya (25), Deepika (24) and Deepika's boyfriend Sachin Rao and the police have recovered ₹11 lakh in cash, 15 lakh worth gold jewellery and a car worth over ₹ 10 lakh. The police have also initiated action to confiscate two sites worth over ₹ 80 lakh purchased by the two in the name of Sachin Rao.

The duo had fabricated documents pertaining to scholarships for the students, who wanted to pursue research abroad and the financial assistance to the students who wish to attend international conferences. Since the two were working in the office of IISc Registrar, they had access to the students' applications for financial assistance from the institutions.

The two had the database of the IISc alumni and whenever applications for such financial assistance came to the office, the two used to include the name of old students and prepare parallel applications. When the Registrar permitted such applications, the fabricated documents of the old students also used to get permission. The two used to divert the money allocated in the names of old students to the accounts of their friends and relatives and later transfer it to their accounts.

However, the IISc Board got suspicious over the financial assistance to the students going abroad shooting up abnormally during the last one year. When they got the expenses audited, there was nothing suspicious. However, when they went into the details of the applicants, it was revealed that money was being sanctioned in the names of old students also.

Sadashivanagar police have said that the two had not spent much money on themselves as they went on investing in gold and land.