Edu officer who led inquiry into Nagpur teacher appointments fraud arrested
MUMBAI: In a significant development in the fraudulent teacher appointments fraud (Shalarth ID scam) in Nagpur, the Cyber Police on Thursday night arrested Chintaman Vanjari, who led the official inquiry into the scam, for his involvement in the scam. Vanjari is currently working as a divisional chairperson of the state education board.
Vanjari's arrest marks a dramatic turn in a case. The police action against him comes a day after the arrest of a clerk in the deputy director of education's office, Laxman Upasrao Mangham, for allegedly creating fake IDs. According to investigators, Mangham's interrogation led to the flagging of Vanjari's name. Vanjari was also allegedly named during earlier interrogations of the other accused.
The scam, believed to have been running since 2019, involved the illegal generation of Shalarth IDs, digital identifiers used to disburse salaries for ineligible teaching and non-teaching staff, in Nagpur district. Many of these appointments took place even when the government's official recruitment process was on hold.
The scam came to light after Ravindra Dnyaneshwar Patil, a junior administrative officer, filed a formal complaint with the cyber police on March 12, reportedly on the instructions of then divisional deputy director, Ulhas Narad. Following this, a seven-member committee was formed in March under Narad to investigate the misuse of Shalarth IDs. However, on April 11, Narad was arrested after it was found he too had created fake Shalarth IDs.
After Narad's arrest, a new committee was led by Madhuri Savarkar, an education department officer. However, the inquiry was abruptly halted in April with no reason and Vanjari was brought in to lead the investigation. His report submitted to the education commissioner in February listed 244 suspicious appointments, triggering further scrutiny.
In April, the state government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into how the fabricated identities were uploaded onto the Shalarth portal to draw salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff. 'This case has exposed serious lapses and collusion within the education department,' a senior officer from the SIT said. 'We are closing in on the main masterminds.'
Police suspect that forged documents and signatures, including those of the late education officer Someshwar Naitam, were used to appoint teachers fraudulently between 2010 and 2014, with their IDs created years later. The SIT has now turned its attention to another senior officer already under suspicion, with further arrests likely
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