Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged Shalarth ID scam in Beed has been accused of failing to record the statement of a key complainant who submitted nearly 200 pages of evidence.




The complainant, Varshatai Jagdale , who serves as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) state vice-president for the women’s wing, said the SIT’s failure to summon her raises suspicions that the probe panel is shielding the accused and attempting a whitewash.




“The evidence I submitted includes staff approval orders, photocopies of blank inward-outward registers used for backdated entries, RTI replies stating that records of 100% aided schools are unavailable, a list of schools named in the SIT that have no files in the zilla parishad (ZP), and missing notings and camp register entries,” Jagdale said.




She alleged that salaries and arrears worth crores of rupees were paid to ineligible staff members by manipulating seniority lists, rosters, and interview records. “After furnishing this evidence, I sought a forensic audit of the registers and an FIR against the involved officers. The SIT recently visited Beed but did not ask me to depose,” Jagdale added.




Shalarth is the centralised govt portal used to maintain salaries and service records of aided school staff. The state SIT was constituted following widespread complaints that bogus appointments were being regularised through the system.




Jagdale alleged that in Beed, instead of weeding out ineligible staff, education department insiders have been protecting them. She claimed they created backdated, fabricated inward-outward registers and inserted names into the Shalarth system using unauthorised procedures to falsify eligibility.




“There are grave irregularities in the records of headmasters, assistant headmasters, and supervisors. While nearly 400 posts are shown as vacant in the registers, they are actually filled. By tampering with caste-wise lists, rosters, and approval lists, ineligible staff have been shown as eligible, draining crores of rupees from the state exchequer in regular salaries and arrears,” she said.




SIT members could not be reached for comment as of Wednesday evening.




The allegations point to a major technical, financial, and administrative scam within the school education department of the Beed Zilla Parishad , where certain insider elements are accused of manipulating govt portals to create fake students and even entirely fake schools .