Mastermind of KGBV 'teachers' scamhimself used fake papers to get job

Lucknow/Agra: Two days after the real Anamika Shukla appeared in Gonda and claimed that her documents were forged by several people to get jobs in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, the Kasganj police arrested one of the masterminds behind this fraud. Shukla, on the other hand, lodged an FIR against unidentified persons in Gonda for misusing her academic records to get jobs in as many as 25 KGBVs.
TOI had exposed on June 4 the racket in which 25 persons with the same name -- Anamika Shukla -- and personal details were found working in various KGBVs and swindling Rs 1 crore in 13 months as salary.
In Kasganj, the apprehended accused was identified as Jaswant Singh Jatav (42) of Nagla Khar village under Bhogaon police station. His younger brother Pushpender Singh Jatav (32) alias Nitu Raj is absconding from June 6. The two brothers have been involved in the scam for seven to eight years and prior to Anamika Shukla, they have used one Deepti Singh's identity and academic qualifications to help scores of women get government teachers' jobs, police said. Jaswant himself got a teacher's job on fake papers, they say.
In Gonda, Basic Shiksha Adhikari Indrajeet Prajapati verified all documents of real Anamika Shukla and lodged an FIR, said the police. As per records, Anamika had pursued Classes X, XII and BSc from Gonda and then did BEd from Ambedkarnagar district. In 2015, she qualified for the UP Teacher’s Eligibility Test (UPTET), the police said. Anamika in her statement to the BSA Gonda has stated that she had applied for the job of science teacher in KGBV in five districts – Sultanpur, Jaunpur, Lucknow, Basti and Mirzapur - in 2017, but never appeared for the counselling for final selection.
Superintendent of police, Gonda, Raj Nayyar, told TOI that Anamika has first lodged a complaint about her education related documents being misused on government’s portal-IGRS. “Later, a probe was done by the BSA who verified her documents and then an FIR was lodged on Thursday,” he said. The officer said that Anamika claimed in the FIR that she got to know about the forgery of her academic documents only through media reports. “People have fraudulently used my documents for getting jobs,” she stated in the FIR. Nayyar said that a team will be formed which will work in coordination with the BSA for the investigation.
Meanwhile, Kasganj SP Sushil Ghule said: “The brothers charged Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh per woman to prepare forged documents. The modus operandi was simple. After collecting details of top ranking candidates who made it into government jobs, Pushpender with the help of his brother would prepare fake marksheet, aadhar and other documents.”
He said, “We suspect that even education department employees would be involved in the scam. Our team is searching for absconding Pushpender. As of now, Jaswant has accused his brother to be kingpin of the scam.”
Jaswant is BA second year dropout of 1997-98 batch of National degree college, Mainpuri. He did his high school from Farrukhabad and intermediate from Mainpuri. Since September 22, 2015, he was working as headmaster of government school Rampur Barauli of Indragadh block under Hasrena police station.
Talking to TOI, SHO, Soron, Ripudaman Singh, who is leading the investigation, said, “Jaswant obtained a headmaster job on fake documents. He had posed himself as Vibhav Kumar, a resident of Hasanpur village of Bhogaon police limits, Mainpuri.”
TOI had reported that an FIR lodged against Anamika Shukla in Amethi district mentioned her address as Hasanpur, but the village (Tigva) pradhan Mahendra Singh Jatav had claimed that entire village is populated by Dalit community and no other community lives there. Hasanpur is just 4 km away from Jaswant’s village Nagla Khar. “The accused had used Hasanpur and many other villages as addresses in fake documents of various Anamika Shuklas as well,” said SHO.