In Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district, eight schoolteachers have been sacked and booked by police after being accused of landing their government teaching jobs by writing their own names on marksheets that actually belonged to someone else. The teachers had been drawing government salaries for close to 19 years on the strength of those fabricated documents before the fraud finally came to light and the case reached the courts.
District Education Department Acts First
The district education department dismissed all eight teachers once its inquiry was complete. Following the dismissal, the Byavra City police station registered an FIR on Tuesday. After the FIR was filed, police arrested seven of the fake teachers and produced them before a court, where all seven were sent on a one-day remand for further questioning. The action means the eight men and women who spent nearly two decades on the government payroll as certified teachers are now facing criminal proceedings rather than a classroom.
A Fake Karnataka University Degree at the Root
Station in-charge Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the teachers had secured their jobs using forged DEd marksheets. DEd, or Diploma in Education, is the basic teaching qualification school recruitment rules require, which is why forged marksheets for this course were enough to get the candidates hired in the first place. Once the fraud was suspected, a government-level investigation team was formed to look into the matter, and its inquiry traced the forged documents back to Karnataka State Open University, Mysore.
Eight Names, Four Sections of the Law
Police have booked Pawan Sharma, Sunil Prajapati, Hemant Sharma, Savitri Dangi, Bane Singh Lavvanshi, Bharat Singh Yadav, Hariprasad Lavvanshi and Himmat Singh Meena for allegedly preparing fabricated documents. They face charges under Section 318(4), which covers cheating by forgery, Section 336(3), which covers preparing a forged document, Section 338, which covers forgery of a valuable security, will or similar document, and Section 340(2), which covers using a forged document as genuine. Together, the four sections cover everything from fabricating a document to actually using it to gain a benefit such as a job, which is exactly what police allege happened in this case. A ninth teacher named in the case, Ramesh Chandra, is currently absconding, and police are searching for him.
Nineteen Years of Salary on Forged Papers
Once the fake marksheets were confirmed, it emerged that all the accused teachers had been working in the education department on the strength of these fraudulent academic documents for around 19 years. For nearly two decades, none of this was flagged, meaning the teachers drew a full government salary, pension benefits and job security meant for genuinely qualified staff. As soon as the case surfaced, all the teachers were arrested and taken into police remand, and investigators expect further revelations to come out during questioning. Police are also examining a wider angle, whether other teachers across the state may have obtained their jobs the same way, through fake marksheets.
Case Registered on Education Officer's Complaint, Questioning Underway
The Byavra City police station said the case against the eight accused was registered based on a report filed by District Education Officer Sawan Patidar. Investigators have taken the accused on police remand and are now interrogating them. Officials say the outcome of this questioning, along with the broader statewide check now underway, could determine whether more teaching posts eventually need to be vacated. Further action in the case will depend on whatever facts emerge during this questioning.
