The Enforcement Directorate is currently investigating alleged frauds of nearly ₹4,000 crore in the education sector. The cases include paper leaks, alleged false admissions, scholarship fraud, fake degree extortion and recruitment fraud. The agency has attached assets currently worth ₹1,500 crore and arrested several high profile accused in various states
The latest case involves entities linked to the Al-Falah Group, in which the agency recently re-arrested the group’s chief, Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui, for his alleged role in using forged papers to acquire land in Delhi.
He was previously booked for allegedly generating and laundering funds related to Al-Falah Charitable Trust, Al-Falah University and affiliated institutions and entities. The ED filed the prosecution complaint after provisionally attaching 54 acres of land along with buildings worth about ₹139.97 crore. He put the total proceeds of the alleged crime in the case at ₹493.24 crore.
The agency alleged that the concerned institutions assumed that the NAAC accreditations had expired in order to trigger admissions. The University has also been listed as recognized under Section 12(B) of the University Grants Act. In addition, there were alleged irregularities in obtaining approvals and certificates.
Al-Falah University has also come under scrutiny after three doctors associated with the institution were arrested in connection with an alleged module linked to an explosion near the Red Fort in November 2025.
Fraud of teachers
In the alleged fraud of Primary School teachers in West Bengal, the agency has attached properties worth ₹151.26 crore. Seven people, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee, were arrested. It also attached assets worth ₹3.65 crore associated with MLA Chandranath Sinha.
The second case from the same state concerns the hiring of teaching assistants (grades IX-XII). ED has frozen assets worth ₹238.8 crore. Among those arrested were Santi Prasad Sinha, Prasanna Kumar Roy and MLA Jiban Krishna Saha. On 3 April 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the cancellation of 25,000 appointments by the Calcutta High Court. Bonds rise to ₹247 crore in ‘Group C and D Staff’ recruitment scam in West Bengal.
School Scam in Delhi
Last year, the ED began investigating alleged financial irregularities worth ₹2,000 crore in the construction of over 12,000 classrooms and semi-permanent structures for government schools in Delhi during the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) tenure from 2015 to 2023. Former ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar are the Satyendar scanner.
The agency is investigating the alleged fraudulent blocking of seats in private engineering colleges in Karnataka. In case of NEET-UG 2024 leak, it conducted searches in Ranchi, Patna and Nalanda. Investigation revealed that prime accused Sanjeev Mukhiya and his associates had collected information about printing presses, warehouses and transport vehicles used for confidential test material. They allegedly tampered with sealed boxes en route to examination centers and stole question papers before reaching students. The papers were later allegedly sold through encrypted social media channels.
The ED also investigated the paper leak of the 2022 Rajasthan Senior Secondary Teacher Competitive Examination and made several arrests.
Scholarship scam
The agency also pursued several cases of alleged scholarship fraud. In Himachal Pradesh, private institutions have allegedly siphoned off government scholarships meant for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class and minority students. The accused allegedly ghosted students and fabricated records to claim funds under post-secondary scholarship programs. Six people were arrested and property was seized.
A similar scam was uncovered in Uttar Pradesh, where the Hygia Group allegedly claimed central and state scholarships by falsifying student data. In Karnataka’s Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, ₹33.34 crore in scholarship funds meant for postgraduate medical students was allegedly misappropriated between 2018 and 2024. The ED attached ₹5.87 crore to the immovable property and seized property worth ₹85 lakh.
In August 2025, a bogus NRI quota scam linked to medical admissions in several private colleges came under the scanner. Investigators alleged that private colleges conspired with agents to fabricate embassy-issued NRI certificates and pedigrees to admit ineligible candidates. Such cases involving more than ₹23 crore were also identified in West Bengal and Odisha. ED provisionally attached nearly ₹19 crore.
Other cases include the alleged fake degree scam at Manav Bharti University in Himachal Pradesh. The agency estimated the proceeds of crime in the case at around ₹387 crore.
In April last year, the ED conducted searches in Delhi, Noida and Gurugram in a case related to the promoters and owners of the Forum for Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (FIITJEE) coaching centers, months after several of its centers suddenly shut down allegedly without any notice.
Published – 10 May 2026 21:31 IST
