Maha education department hit by recruitment scam, deputy director & headmaster arrested

Nagpur: The Maharashtra education dept was rocked by a recruitment and financial scam, which was busted by city police with the arrest of deputy director of education, Nagpur division, Ulhas Narad, along with the headmaster of a Bhandara aided school, Parag Pudke, in a dramatic predawn swoop on their residences on Saturday.

The multi-crore scam revolved around issuance of a web-based unique teacher identification number (Shalarth ID) to an ineligible individual, Pudke, who drew govt salaries, got a five-year pay arrear and a promotion as headmaster. Narad, nabbed from Gadchiroli, had promoted Pudke based on fake documentation of his teaching experience and approved salary arrears, inflicting a substantial loss to state coffers.

Following unravelling of the scam, several ‘Shalarth IDs' fed into the govt database of personnel details, payments and other benefits for grant-in-aid are now under scrutiny. The role of at least 40 employees of the education department, including a zilla parishad member is being probed, said a senior police official.

Sources stated another senior education officer's name has been included in the FIR, but he's yet to be probed. Narad approved the posting and promotion of Pudke to a school in Lakhni in Bhandara as headmaster based on fake teaching experience. The school, incidentally, belonged to Pudke's father.

A scrutiny unearthed that Pudke was portrayed as an assistant teacher at a school in north Nagpur between 2019 and 2023, but he was not in the school rolls. But, Pudke claimed salary arrears for five years based on his fake duty period till 2023. The proposal was sent by zilla parishad authorities to Narad for his approval, said a senior cop.

The whistle-blower in the case was a 'painter' who overheard teachers in Pudke's school discussing his promotion without any experience. Police sources stated money was siphoned off for undue favours in posting, promotion, and clearance of salary arrears, which was approved by senior education department officials, who are also under scrutiny. Other senior officials, headmasters, and teachers are under police radar, said an official.

Zonal DCP Rahul Madane stated the investigation is at a preliminary stage, and more searches and arrests are likely to take place. "We will dig deeper. More heads are likely to roll in the coming days," said Madane, who is supervising the probe under senior inspector of Sadar police station Manish Thakare.

Sources stated the investigation team has already collected incriminating documents from the education department and zilla parishad authorities. Random searches are set to take place at different locations for seizing records related to Narad and Pudke. Sources stated cell phones of the accused would be analysed at a forensic lab to recover deleted chats, messages, and links to other scamsters. Police are expected to extract information about the racketeers through investigative cell phone technology.