Shalarth ID scam could be worth Rs3,000 crore, Fadnavis tells assembly
2
Nagpur: The Shalarth ID scam could be worth as much as Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 crore if it is found to be spread across
Maharashtra
, chief minister
Devendra Fadnavis
informed the legislative assembly on Friday. He admitted that bogus Shalarth IDs were created to fraudulently appoint teachers and siphon off salaries from the state's education department.
The CM said the govt has decided to constitute a
Special Investigation Team
(SIT) to probe the scam.
Responding to a question from senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Fadnavis said that after reviewing with the school education minister, it was clear that such scams may not be confined to a single district. "The possibility of such scams happening across the state cannot be denied," Fadnavis told the House. "Using technology, we are examining where else such fraud may have occurred.
We will definitely investigate any such cases happening elsewhere too," he said.
Addressing allegations of selective action, Fadnavis clarified that chargesheets have only been filed in cases where solid evidence was unearthed. "We have acted against all involved, but chargesheets were filed only where cops found evidence. There is no question of shielding anyone," he said.
The cops arrested education officials as well as school staffers for their involvement in the scam, and so far, chargesheets have been filed against eight people.
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The Shalarth portal is used by the state education department for salary disbursement and service record management of teachers. The scam involves creating fake Shalarth IDs to appoint non-existent teachers and withdrawing salaries in their names. Scamsters generated bogus Shalarth IDs by manipulating the system and these fake IDs were then used to process salaries from govt funds. The entire scam was operated by uploading forged documents and getting salaries approved through the Pay Unit of Nagpur Zilla Parishad.
In several cases, salaries were drawn for months before discrepancies were detected. The scam came to light only after scamsters tried to claim salary arrears which ran into lakhs per teacher.
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