5 booked for embezzling ₹7.5L of edu dept in MDM scheme

Prayagraj: Five persons, including the district coordinator of mid-day meal ( MDM ) and two ex-computer operators, have been booked in Kaushambi for embezzling Rs 7.50 lakh of the education department by transferring salaries of ‘non-existent’ cooks to the accounts of their close relatives.

Basic shiksha akhikari ( BSA ) Kaushambi, Prakash Singh has lodged an FIR with Manjhanpur police station against five persons — Pankaj Kumar (district coordinator MDM), Vinay Kumar Gupta (ex-computer operator at Sarsava block), Raj Kumar Chaurasia (ex-computer operator and MDM in charge Mooratganj), Neeraj Jaiswal (computer operator MDM Manjhanpur) and Mohd Nashid (instructor higher secondary school, Pindara) under the sections of 420 (cheating and dishonestly ) , 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery and cheating), 471 (fraud to gain pecuniary) and 120 B ( criminal conspiracy) of IPC on the charges of embezzlement of education department funds.

The BSA told TOI, “The accused had transferred the funds into at least 45 accounts of their close relatives though cooks were not appointed or working in the primary/upper primary schools under MDM.”

He added, “While three of them are contractual staff, two others are outsourced employees.” The case came to fore when the officials of the education department received a complaint regarding payments being made to non-existent cooks in primary schools and further conducted a detailed probe into the incident.

The BSA said that payments were made to the at least 45accounts of close relatives of these accused on different months on the names of cooks who did not exist. The probe report also revealed that the first fake payment was made in October last year and the majority of complaints were received from the Sarsawa block of the Kaushambi district.

Following the FIR, the officials of the education department have terminated the services of seven persons, including the five accused. Meanwhile, the BSA has also written to agencies concerned to freeze the accounts where the money was deposited.

Meanwhile, Kaushambi district authorities have also taken the roles of khand shiksha akhikari (KSA) under the scanner after acknowledging the fact that payments were transferred to the accounts of the close relatives of the accused after their approval.