Edu official who headed investigation into Nagpur teacher appointments scam held

In a dramatic turn of events in the dubious teacher appointments scam (Shalarth ID scam) in Nagpur, the Cyber Police on Thursday night apprehended Chintaman Vanjari, who headed the official investigation into the scam, for his role in the scam. Vanjari is at present employed 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 fraud, which is presumed to have been operating since 2019, involved illegal creation of Shalarth IDs, electronic identifiers that were used to pay salaries to ineligible non-teaching and teaching staff in Nagpur district. Several of these appointments were done even when the official recruitment process at the government level was suspended.

The scam was exposed after a junior administrative officer, Ravindra Dnyaneshwar Patil, approached the cyber police with a written complaint on March 12, allegedly on the orders of then divisional deputy director, Ulhas Narad. Thereafter, a seven-member committee was constituted in March headed by Narad to probe the abuse of Shalarth IDs. But Narad was arrested on April 11 after it was discovered that he had also generated illegal Shalarth IDs.

Once Narad was arrested, the committee was taken over by Madhuri Savarkar, an officer in the education department. The investigation was suddenly discontinued in April without any explanation and Vanjari was appointed to head the inquiry. His report to the education commissioner in February identified 244 dubious appointments, which led to increased questioning.

The state government in April constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate how the fake identities were uploaded on the Shalarth portal to obtain salaries of teachers and non-teaching employees. "This case has revealed glaring lapses and connivance in the education department," a senior SIT officer said. "We are closing in on the top masterminds."

Police believe that fake documents and signatures, including that of the late education officer Someshwar Naitam, were utilized to induct teachers fraudulently from 2010 to 2014, and their IDs made years later. The SIT has now focused on another top officer who is already under the scanner, and more arrests can be expected.