A peon at a college in Madhya Pradesh’s Pipariya has been sacked months after a video purportedly showing him checking answer sheets of post-graduate students went viral on social media and provoked outrage.
Pannalal Patharia, the peon, was sacked along with guest scholar Khushboo Pagare and Rakesh Mehra. The action follows the suspension on April 4 of Rakesh Verma, the principal, and political science teacher Ram Ghulam Patel at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Government Post-Graduate College.
An investigation was ordered after the video showing Patharia checking the answer sheets went viral on January 31. The probe found Patharia was asked to evaluate the papers through Mehra and Pagare for ₹5,000 as the college faced a staff crunch.
Verma acknowledged the staff crunch but blamed a teacher for asking Patharia to evaluate the papers. “How can I be held responsible for it?”