On Wednesday, the Assam Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance Cell conducted a raid at the residence of Ramij Uddin, the stenographer of the prime accused Sewali Devi Sharma. Uddin is under investigation for accumulating disproportionate assets beyond his known sources of income, following his involvement in the Rs105 crore SCERT scam.
The raid occurred at Uddin’s residence located in Kahilipara, Guwahati, as part of the ongoing investigation into the scam. A case numbered 2/25 has been filed against Uddin, and further investigation is underway.
Sewali Devi Sharma, an IAS officer, was arrested in May 2023 along with her contractor son-in-law, Ajit Pal Singh, after going on the run when the scam was uncovered. Sharma allegedly misappropriated funds during her tenure as the Executive Chairman and Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Assam, between 2017 and 2022. The scam involved fraudulent spending on a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) course under the Open Distance Learning (ODL) system.
Sharma is accused of awarding contracts primarily to her family members and in-laws, including her son-in-law, and transferring funds from official SCERT accounts to other employees’ accounts, which were then withdrawn. Additionally, 347 centres were opened for the D.El.Ed. course—288 more than those authorized by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). Most of these centres are suspected to be fake, with their GST numbers also found to be fraudulent.
In July 2023, Sharma’s suspension order was extended by 180 days in connection with the case.
