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141 Shalarth IDs created in a single day bearing former deputy director’s signature: Probe
The Nashik police, investigating the alleged ₹160-crore Shalarth ID scam, have found that 141 of the 177 teaching and non-teaching employees working in educational institutions run by arrested trustee Sanjay Bhaskarrao Garud were issued Shalarth IDs on a single day, August 28, 2019, through orders bearing the signature of the then Deputy Director of Education, Nitin Bacchav
The Nashik police, investigating the alleged ₹160-crore Shalarth ID scam, have found that 141 of the 177 teaching and non-teaching employees working in educational institutions run by arrested trustee Sanjay Bhaskarrao Garud were issued Shalarth IDs on a single day, August 28, 2019, through orders bearing the signature of the then Deputy Director of Education, Nitin Bacchav.
Garud, founder and director of the Shindurni Education Society, was arrested from a farmhouse in Natepute in Solapur district. Investigators allege that 177 teaching and non-teaching staff in institutions run by the trust secured fraudulent appointment approvals, enabling them to obtain Shalarth IDs and draw salaries from the state exchequer.
A senior police officer said, “Out of the 177 teaching and non-teaching employees in the institutions run by the accused, Shalarth orders for 141 employees were processed on a single day, August 28, 2019, with the signature of the then Deputy Director of Education, Nitin Bacchav. We are questioning the arrested accused to ascertain how these approvals were obtained.”
Bacchav is absconding and efforts are on to trace and arrest him, police said.
Investigators are examining Bacchav’s role, along with that of suspected middlemen, in what they believe was an organised racket involving forged appointment approvals and fabricated Shalarth records used to siphon off government salary funds.
The probe has found that the recruitment of the 177 employees was shown between 2011 and 2013. Police allege Garud later prepared fake joining reports as head of the institution to support the fabricated records.
Police have also found that no proposals seeking Shalarth ID approval for these employees were submitted to the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Jalgaon, as required. Instead, fake approval orders were allegedly generated with the help of the then Education Officer, on the basis of which the IDs were created.
According to investigators, forged outward entry numbers were inserted into the official dispatch register to make the approval orders appear genuine. The Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Jalgaon, has submitted a report detailing the alleged irregularities.
According to the police, the accused, Nitin Bacchav has moved the court seeking protection from arrest.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the arrested accused and the other accused entered into a criminal conspiracy and jointly executed the offence. Accordingly, Section 111 (Organised Crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been additionally invoked against the accused and further investigation is ongoing.
Investigators are questioning Garud to establish who prepared and submitted the approval proposals, how the files were processed and which officials facilitated the issuance of 141 Shalarth IDs in a single day. They are also probing whether the same modus operandi was adopted by other educational trusts under investigation.
The alleged ₹160-crore scam involves fake appointment approvals and fabricated salary records generated through fraudulent Shalarth IDs, enabling government salary funds to be siphoned off in the names of teaching and non-teaching employees. The Special Investigation Team suspects the conspiracy extends across multiple educational trusts and government offices in several districts.
