Lucknow, April 2 : Ten private educational institutes have been accused of indulging in a scam amounting to Rs 200 crore in the name of post matriculation scholarship distribution. A case has been registered against 18 persons whose role was found suspicious in an ED probe conducted in February after irregularities surfaced. SHO, Hazratganj, Akhilesh Mishra said the institutes, in connivance with their staff and bank agents, opened bank accounts and linked them to debit cards issued against bank accounts of scholarship holders to usurp the money. The accused entities stole post matriculation scholarship worth Rs 200 crore, given to economically weaker beneficiaries by the state and central governments since 2015. The institutes used fake papers, credentials and addresses to open bank accounts which were in the name of their staff and managers. It surfaced that the miscreants used the same email Ids for opening bank accounts in the name of different students. The miscreants used fake paper trails in the scam to trick the officials who issued funds for scholarship," he said. The police said some of the dubious beneficiaries were minors while some of them turned out to be elderly persons. It was alleged that the accused persons opened the bank accounts with the help of agents of FINO banks. An agent of FINO bank provided user Id and passwords to the institutes who later siphoned off the money as if it was being withdrawn by the scholarship holders. Nearly 3,000 fake bank accounts were opened and 1,200 SIM cards obtained on fake documents were used to obtain debit cards which the institutes kept with them to withdraw the money later. "We have registered an FIR against the owners of private educational institutes, under the sections of IPC 420 (cheating), IPC 467 (forgery), IPC 468 (forgery for cheating) against 18 separate owners of educational institutes," said SHO Mishra. /IANS