PRAYAGRAJ, Sept. 7 -- As many as 12 educational institutions of Pratapgarh have been booked for allegedly embezzling over Rs 18.36 lakh by submitting details of 230 fake students under the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) scheme, officials said on Saturday. The irregularities came to light after a Central government audit team, suspecting discrepancies, carried out physical verification of students who received scholarships during 2021-22 and 2022-23. The verification confirmed that scholarships were released to fictitious beneficiaries. Following the report, the Union minority affairs ministry directed the district minority welfare officer, Prabhat Kumar, to re-examine the findings. His inquiry also confirmed the misuse of funds. Kumar subsequently lodged a complaint at Sangramgarh police station, leading to the registration of FIRs against 12 institutions and their nodal officer. Police said those booked include Mohd Irfan of AVN Inter College Lalganj, Gyan Singh Yadav of Sardar Patel Inter College Bandhwa Vijayimau, Amanat Khan of JJKVM Inter College, Mohd Rehan Khan of Kailash Subhash Inter College Pureveer, Vikas Kumar Rai of Captain Badri Prasad Yadav Higher Secondary School Bairampur Suvansha, Pradeep Kumar of Mahadev Inter College Lilapur, Sanjeev Kumar of Naulakhi Devi Somvanshi Inter College Aspur Devsara, Govind Prasad of RBIM College Samsapur Hathigwan, Mohd Shadab of Rajaram Yadav Inter College Rampur, Ravikant Vishwakarma of SR Inter College Laxmanpur, Mohd Abu Kalam Khan of Shrinath Patel Inter College Lattara Manikpur, and Mohd Tanveer Raza of Sarvodaya Inter College Sangipur. The case is now under investigation by Sangramgarh police....