28 ex-govt, civic officials booked in Rs 2 crore teacher recruitment fraud
PUNE: The Pune police booked 28 people allegedly for recruiting teachers at Zilla Parishad schools based on forged documents since 2012. The suspected fraud is estimated to be worth Rs 2 crore.
The 28 booked people include former officials of education departments of Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pune Zilla Parishad, and officials of at least three schools in Pune region.
The complaint in the matter was lodged by Kisan Dattoba Bhujbal, 50, an official at the Zilla Parishad primary education department.
According to his complaint, since 2012, the booked officials had allegedly forged documents to show private citizens as unaided contract teachers and transferred them to aided government teachers’ post. Documents related to teacher recognition and related approvals were forged and salaries were drawn by those appointed through this method, according to the complaint.
The ZP education department conducted an enquiry in the matter between July and October before approaching the police. The complaint in the matter was lodged on October 15 and a case in the matter was registered on October 19. The case will be investigated by the economic offence wing (EOW) of Pune police.
A case was registered at Bund Garden police station under Indian Penal Code sections 120(b) criminal conspiracy, 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), and other sections, along with sections 13(1)(a)(b) and 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989.
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