India, June 6 -- An unidentified man has been booked by the Nerul police for allegedly creating fake student records and fraudulently claiming Central government scholarship funds meant for minority community students. The fraud allegedly led to the disbursal of Rs.96,300 under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme during the 2021-22 academic year.

The FIR was registered on Thursday following a complaint filed by Vijaykumar Ashok Sonawane, education officer (planning) with the Thane Zilla Parishad, after an inquiry uncovered irregularities in scholarship applications submitted through the National Scholarship Portal.

According to police, the accused, identified only as Sameerkumar, allegedly misused the UDISE code of a school in Nerul to ga...