A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged ‘Shalarth ID scam’ in Maharashtra has uncovered in the recruitment of teachers, with over 500 appointments made without following due procedures, a senior police official said on Sunday, 25 May.

The Shalarth portal is a centralised system maintained by the Maharashtra government to manage the payroll and service records of staff in government and government-aided schools. Each staff member, including teachers, is issued a unique Shalarth ID to enable salary disbursal.

According to SIT findings, out of 622 teachers appointed in the alleged scam, only 75 were recruited through proper channels. The remaining 547 were hired using fake Shalarth IDs, with each appointment allegedly secured by paying bribes ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. The total scam is estimated to be worth over Rs 100 crore.

Assistant commissioner of police Sunita Meshram, who is heading the SIT, said the investigation has expanded beyond deputy directors in the education department to include education officers and teachers. She confirmed that more arrests are likely in the coming days.

In a recent development, an SIT team visited Bhandara on Friday, 23 May, to arrest retired deputy director Satish Mendhe, who is suspected to be involved in the racket. However, he was not found at his residence.

The SIT was constituted in April this year to investigate how fake identities were being used on the Shalarth platform to illegally disburse salaries, primarily in the Nagpur region. Several individuals have already been arrested in connection with the case, and the probe is ongoing.

With PTI inputs