The Nashik Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested a BJP-linked education trust director in the alleged multi-crore Shalarth ID fraud, where forged appointment approvals and fake entries in Maharashtra’s teacher payroll system were allegedly used to siphon government funds meant for teaching and non-teaching staff.
Sanjay Bhaskarrao Garud (67), founder-director of Shendurni Education Society and manager of several educational institutions in Jalgaon district, was arrested from Natepute in Solapur district. Police said he had been hiding at a farmhouse and was tracked through technical surveillance and confidential intelligence.
Garud joined the BJP from the NCP (SP) in January 2024 and is considered close to state water resources and disaster management minister Girish Mahajan.
Responding to the arrest, Mahajan said, “I came to know about it while attending a programme. I need to gather complete information before commenting.”
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The case was registered at Nashik Road police station in March following a complaint by the office of the Deputy Director of Education, Nashik Division.
{{/usCountry}}The case was registered at Nashik Road police station in March following a complaint by the office of the Deputy Director of Education, Nashik Division.
{{/usCountry}}Investigators said 841 teaching and non-teaching employees across Nashik, Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar districts were fraudulently added to the Shalarth salary management system using forged appointment approvals and fabricated Shalarth orders, despite the absence of valid recruitment proposals or sanctions.
The bogus entries allegedly enabled the withdrawal of salaries and arrears from the state government, causing an estimated loss of ₹160 crore to the exchequer.
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During the probe, investigators found that Garud, who manages 15 educational institutions, allegedly facilitated fake approval records for 177 teaching and non-teaching employees without submitting legitimate proposals to the education officer’s office.
Assistant commissioner of police (Crime) Sandeep Mitke said, “As per the complaint registered at Nashik Road police station, we arrested Garud from Natepute in Solapur district. More than 150 fake teacher profiles were created in institutions managed by him. So far, the role of more than 200 schools has come to light, over 1,200 accused have been identified and five persons have been arrested.”
Mitke said the investigation revealed that forged Shalarth IDs were created in institutions managed by Garud, allowing salaries to be fraudulently drawn in the names of non-existent employees.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by rural development department secretary Chandrakant Pulkundwar, is probing the wider scam. Earlier this month, Nashik police arrested former Jalgaon Zilla Parishad education officer Shashikant Hingonekar for his alleged role in creating bogus Shalarth IDs.
The alleged irregularities came to light after discrepancies were detected in the Shalarth portal, Maharashtra’s online system for maintaining service records and processing salaries of teachers and non-teaching employees in government and aided schools. Investigators allege that forged approvals, fake appointments and fabricated IDs were used to withdraw government funds over several years.
In July 2025, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told the legislative assembly that the creation of bogus Shalarth IDs appeared to be a statewide racket. He estimated the fraud at ₹2,000 crore to ₹3,000 crore and said action was being taken against those involved.