Shalarth ID Scam ZP’s 2 sr Education officers arrested for Rs 100 cr scam

 

 

 

Two senior Education officers from the Zilla Parishad (ZP) in Nagpur have been arrested for creating fake Shalarth IDs and stealing over Rs 100 crore Government money. The two arrested officers are Rohini Vithoba Kumbhar (49), Primary Education Officer, and Siddheshwar Shriram Kaluse (50), also a Primary Education Officer. The police said that these officers created fake Shalarth IDs for 398 teachers even though the Government had stopped issuing new IDs. They used the fake IDs to illegally pay salaries, which led to a loss of Rs 100 crore to the Government exchequer. The investigation started after Ravindra Patil filed a complaint this year. At first, a case was registered against Nilesh Waghmare. Later, the police arrested 12 more people, including former Deputy Director Ulhas Narad, Education Officer Chintaman Vanjari, Vaishali Jamdar, and four Government staff. Also arrested were four private institution directors, some school principals, and teachers.

 

During the investigation, police found that around 650 fake Shalarth IDs had been made. Officer Kaluse paid salaries to 154 teachers using these fake IDs between March 15, 2024, and earlier. Officer Kumbhar did the same for 244 teachers between March 21, 2022, and March 15, 2024. These appointments were made even though teacher recruitment was officially closed at the time. Cyber Police’s Senior Inspector Baliram Sutar found strong evidence against Kaluse and Kumbhar. Both were arrested on Wednesday morning and taken for questioning. Later in the afternoon, they were presented before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, who sent them to judicial custody. The police are continuing their investigation to find others involved in this large scam. More arrests may happen soon.

 

 

As the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court has remanded the accused to magisterial custody, it will now be difficult for the police to thoroughly investigate the scam and seize important evidence related to it. As a result, city police officials have decided to challenge the JMFC’s order in the High Court. DCP Zone 2, Nityanand Jha, stated that an application in this regard will be filed in the High Court shortly.