Dummy candidate racket: Maharashtra CID arresst eight more govt officials

The CID has verified the identities of 49 such officials serving across the state, who have got government jobs after dummy candidates appeared for them in the exams. As many as 15 such officers were arrested in the first week of March.

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A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CID is currently probing the scam and has arrested 10 persons who ran the racket.

CONTINUING the arrests in the statewide dummy candidate racket, the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested eight serving government officials who had been allegedly recruited through the racket in the past. The CID has verified the identities of 49 such officials serving across the state, who have got government jobs after dummy candidates appeared for them in the exams. As many as 15 such officers were arrested in the first week of March.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CID is currently probing the scam and has arrested 10 persons who ran the racket, including the kingpin Prabodh Rathod, who is a dismissed government employee from Nanded and some impersonators, including two then serving police officers of assistant inspector rank, a CID handwriting expert and a cop who was part of the initial probe into the racket.

The SIT has filed three chargesheets in the case and is likely to make more arrests of serving government officials. Shankar Kengar, the Superintendent of Police with the CID, who is heading the SIT, said eight more government officials have been arrested.

“The arrested were produced in a court at Kinwat in Nanded district, where the offence is registered. They have been remanded in police custody.”

The arrested officials have been identified as Anil Jadhav (36), senior clerk with Integrated Tribal Development Project in Nashik, Dhanraj Rathod (40), junior land revenue official in Akole in Ahmednagar, Laxman Chavan (30) serving at the Scheduled Caste Boys School at Jintur in Parbhani, Swapnil Pawar (33) and Sunil Bansod (29), both serving as civil engineering assistant with Panchayat Samiti at Ardhapur in Nanded district, Kunal Rathod (32) posted in the Fisheries Department wing in the state Secretariat in Mumbai, Chandan Rathod (38), canal inspector with Irrigation Department in Kinwat in Nanded, and Shiv Prasad Dumne (24) from Nanded.

The Indian Express had reported that a large number of documents that contained handwriting and signatures of the dummy candidates and actual candidates were sent to three central forensic laboratories in Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad for analysis. Officials had said that after they receive the reports, they would proceed with the arrests of those who have been recruited through the racket.

Sources have, however, told this paper that although the SIT has ascertained the identities of all 49 serving officials, original documents pertaining to respective examinations of seven to eight of them have not yet been found. A 28-year-old political science graduate Yogesh Jadhav from Nanded, who is preparing for civil service examinations, had first unearthed the series of impersonation cases between 2010 and 2016, by filing several Right to Information (RTI) applications, which has led to the statewide probe by the CID SIT.

Sushant Kulkarni

Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010. Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune. Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read More

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