2 including Chartered Accountant Arrested by EOW for Rs. 3 Crore Fraud in Government’s SAMRIDH Scheme

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has arrested two men, including a Chartered Accountant, for cheating the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of over Rs 3 crore under the SAMRIDH Scheme.

The arrested individuals are Prashant Agarwal (34), who lives in BTM Layout, Bengaluru, and Sudhanshu Kumar Rakesh from Chandaura in Nalanda, Bihar. Prashant is the director of HPPL Foundation, and Sudhanshu is a partner at a CA firm named Tripurari & Associates.

The scam was unearthed after a complaint was lodged by Rashi Sharma, a representative of the MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) under Digital India Corporation.

Referring to the FIR lodged on April 24, 2025, HPPL Foundation was selected as a startup accelerator under the SAMRIDH Scheme. This scheme gives up to Rs. 40 lakh to each startup along with business support. MSH had given Rs 3.04 crore to HPPL Foundation to support eight startups.

However, the foundation did not give the funds to the startups as promised. Instead, Prashant Agarwal used the money for himself and acquired fake Utilisation Certificates, which falsely represented that the money was spent as per requirement. These fake certificates were signed with CA Sudhanshu Rakesh’s name and seal.

Police also informed that Agarwal siphoned off Rs 11 lakh from startups by cheating them that he would be able to help them receive government funds. He used fake documents and reports to keep the fraud going.

Digital evidence found at Agarwal’s house in Bengaluru included fake certificates and emails that proved the fraud. He was arrested on April 30, and later, Rakesh was caught on May 7 in Patna. Police also found templates used to create fake certificates.

Agarwal, who studied in Canada, started HPPL Foundation in 2022. Both men caused a big financial loss to the government. The investigation is still going on.