Lucknow: The special investigation team (SIT) in Uttar Pradesh, examining the financial sources of the state’s madrassas, has identified 80 that received nearly Rs 100 crore in donations from various countries in the past two years. The state has around 24,000 madrassas, with over 16,500 recognised by the UP Board of Madrassa Education.
Senior officials said Wednesday that the three-member SIT is now working to determine how these funds were utilised by the madrassas and whether there were any irregularities in their spending. The investigation aims to determine whether the foreign funding was used for running the madrassas or diverted for other activities, said SIT head Mohit Agarwal, the ATS additional DG.
While no specific timeframe has been set by the state government for completing the investigation, sources said the SIT has already requested details of registered madrassas from the board. Last year, CM Yogi Adityanath’s government instructed district magistrates to conduct a survey of unrecognised madrassas, leading to the discovery of 8,449 operating without recognition from the state madrassa education board.
In addition to areas like Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar, and Bahraich near the Nepal border, over 1,000 madrassas are reportedly functioning in nearby regions. The formation of the SIT was prompted by a surge in the number of madrassas in these areas and reports of foreign funding.
