NEW DELHI: In a major setback for Rajneesh Bansal, Chairman of the Himalayan Group of Professional Institutions, the Supreme Court has set aside the anticipatory bail granted to him by the Himachal Pradesh High Court in connection with the multi-crore post-matric scholarship scam.
A bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Prasanna B Varale allowed the appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), observing that custodial interrogation of the accused is necessary considering the nature of the offense and the need to trace the money trail.
The apex court noted that investigating agencies must be given an effective opportunity to probe serious economic offenses of this scale. The court clarified that the order was passed strictly on the requirements of the investigation and does not express any final opinion on the merits of the allegations.
During the hearing, the ED informed the court that the case involves the alleged misappropriation of post-matric scholarship funds meant for Students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The agency argued that establishing the complete chain of money laundering and tracing the illicit funds was impossible without custodial interrogation, adding that the anticipatory bail was hindering the investigation.
The post-matric scholarship scheme is a joint initiative of the central and state governments designed to provide financial educational support to eligible students from SC, ST, and OBC communities.
The scam first came to light in 2018 during an internal inquiry by the state education department, which revealed massive irregularities in scholarship distribution. It was alleged that between 2012–13 and 2017–18, several private educational institutions fraudulently claimed scholarship funds through fake admissions and forged documents, causing a loss of around ₹250 crore to the exchequer. The probe pointed to the involvement of more than 22 private institutions.
In 2019, the Himachal Pradesh High Court handed the probe over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Following its investigation, the CBI registered cases against owners of several private educational institutions, officials, and other accused under charges of corruption, cheating, and criminal conspiracy.
Based on the evidence uncovered by the CBI, the ED subsequently launched a parallel money laundering probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The enforcement agency had moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s decision to grant relief to Bansal.
