Harni boat tragedy | School submitted fake proof: Kin of teachers

However, when the salary voucher receipts were submitted, Advocate Hitesh Gupta, representing the victims, said that the families of the two deceased teachers had noticed that their signatures on the salary register entry were allegedly “forged” by the school authorities. Gupta said that the families would seek an FIR against the school.

The school authorities, for their part, said the documents were genuine, adding it had “no reason to submit forged documents”. Twelve children and two teachers died after the boat they were travelling in during a school picnic capsized in the Harni Lake Zone due to alleged overcrowding on January 18 last year.

According to Gupta, “As per our written submission that the compensation for two deceased teachers and one surviving teacher can be decided only once their income proofs are available, the deputy collector had ordered the school to submit the documents. The school has submitted pages from a register, which contain a different amount (than the actual salary) and forged signatures of teachers; the signatures were verified with the PAN and passport documents and found to be different. The families will now file a police complaint.”

Gupta contended that while one of the deceased teachers, Falguni Patel, had been working in the school for 35 years, she was allegedly paid a lesser amount than the one reflecting on the vouchers (receipts).

Gupta said, “The vouchers that Falguni Patel was made to sign (while receiving the salary) were left blank but she was paid only Rs 15,000 in cash. Now that the school has submitted the income proof, it has provided the forged register entry with a lower amount.”

When contacted, Russy Wadia, Trustee and Managing Director of New Sunrise School, denied the allegations and said that the school had “no reason to” forge the documents as the Gujarat HC had directed the Lake Zone contractors to pay compensation to the victims.

Wadia told The Indian Express, “The school has no reason to submit forged documents… The November 29 order of the Gujarat HC clearly states that the compensation is to be paid by M/s Kotia Projects… The documents we have provided about the teachers’ salaries are absolutely genuine.”

Wadia further said, “We have records of the Provident Fund deposits to show in order to substantiate our submissions. In fact, the family of Falguni teacher has even received the amount in her PF on the basis of the calculations that have been submitted. The families of both teachers also collected their salaries for the month of January (2024) after the tragedy, by signing the same vouchers.”

The next hearing in the matter before the Deputy Collector will be held on January 27.