Guwahati, 16th December: In a significant development, the bail plea of apprehended IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma was rejected by a court in Guwahati on Saturday. Sewali Devi, apprehended in May 2023 by the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell (CM’s SVC), is linked to the Rs 105 crore State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) scam. She was taken into custody alongside her contractor son-in-law Ajit Pal Singh from a hotel in Rajasthan’s Ajmer.
Sources confirm that Sewali Sharma has been in judicial custody since her apprehension. Both accused individuals were on the run following the revelation of the alleged Rs 105 crore funds embezzlement case.
The SCERT scam, involving funds allocated for a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) course under the Open Distance Learning (ODL) system, reportedly witnessed financial irregularities from 2017 to 2022. Suspended SCERT Director-in-Charge Sewali Devi Sarma is accused of favoring family members, including in-laws, in awarding contracts. Sources reveal that many firms involved had fake Goods and Services Tax (GST) numbers.
Devi allegedly transferred funds from official bank accounts to the accounts of other employees, subsequently withdrawing the money. It has also emerged that she violated guidelines, initiating 347 centres for the D.El.Ed. course under Open Distance Learning (ODL)—288 more than the number permitted by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). Many of these centers are alleged to be fake.
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