Congress terms 'Skill India' a scam, demands probe
New Delhi, Sep 21 : The Congress on Friday demanded a probe into the Narendra Modi-led government's much vaunted "Skill India", claiming that the scheme was a massive scam benefiting people within the "BJP eco-system".
Citing media reports and RTI replies, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi alleged that the scheme launched in 2015 to "train 40 crore people" was actually a "shortcut to profitable business for the unscrupulous".
"Skill India Mission has turned out to be a massive scam with people within the BJP eco-system, its cronies, middlemen, touts and mafia pocketing the money for the same and listing ghost beneficiaries.
"The mission of skilling has evolved into a mechanism of fast billing for BJP's friends. In the name of making youth employable, Modi government's Skill Development Ministry seems to have created a shortcut to profitable business for the unscrupulous," said Singhvi.
The Congress also targeted Textile Minister Smriti Irani over the alleged scam.
"Irani, who leaves no opportunity to exert her larynx on variety of inane issues, is absolutely mum on the rampant corruption under her watch, why?" asked Singhvi.
He also cited the government-appointed Sharda Prasad Committee that had "criticised the Modi government for setting an unachievable target of skilling 40 crore youth".
"The committee had further found that the Modi government had been missing its targets over the previous two years as far as skilling the workforce was concerned," said Singhvi, demanding a probe into the scam and recovery of "crores of people's money lost due to these irregularities".
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Delhi: Man arrested in Rs 1.2-lakh UPI fraud case
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has arrested a 32-year-old man in connection with a mobile phone theft case linked to fraudulent UPI transactions worth over Rs 1.2 lakh, an official said on Tuesday.
The case pertains to an e-FIR registered at IGI Airport Metro police station after a mobile phone was stolen and subsequently used to carry out multiple unauthorised UPI transactions amounting to Rs 1,20,390, he said.
Police said the investigation relied on a multi-layered approach combining advanced cyber forensic tools with ground intelligence. An end-to-end analysis of 11 suspicious UPI transactions was carried out, along with profiling and physical verification of beneficiaries.
The probe revealed that the defrauded money was rapidly routed through multiple local merchant accounts, indicating a structured and well-planned fraud network, a senior police officer said.
During technical surveillance, one of the key beneficiaries, identified as Neetu from Haryana's Safidon, was traced and examined. Her questioning led police to the prime accused, Kushagra Ahuja.
The accused had no fixed residence and frequently changed locations to evade arrest, making the investigation challenging. Multiple raids were conducted across Delhi and the National Capital Region based on technical inputs and surveillance.
On May 1, specific intelligence inputs indicated his presence near Kashmere Gate in north Delhi. Acting swiftly, police teams launched a focused operation and apprehended Ahuja after an intensive search near the ISBT area.
