The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Nashik city police has made a significant arrest in a major educational fraud case, apprehending a retired senior official from the education department. The scam, centered around the fraudulent creation of Shalarth IDs for teachers, is believed to have caused a financial loss of at least Rs 20 crore to the state exchequer.
Key Arrest and Court Proceedings
In a late-night operation on Tuesday, the EOW team arrested Nitin Upasani, a retired deputy director of the education department. Upasani was presented before a city court on Wednesday, where the police secured his custody. The court ordered that he remain in police custody until December 8 to facilitate further interrogation and investigation.
Upasani stands accused of conspiring with the management of several government-aided educational institutes. The institutes are located in the Jalgaon, Chalisgaon, and Dhule regions of Maharashtra.
Modus Operandi of the Scam
In Maharashtra, the Shalarth ID is a crucial digital identity issued to teachers in government and aided schools. It is used to maintain official service records and to process salary payments. Investigators allege that Upasani and his associates exploited this system.
"The accused colluded to prepare Shalarth IDs for individuals who were not legitimately recruited as teachers," explained Inspector Ramdas Shelke, the investigating officer leading the EOW probe. He detailed the dual-layered fraud: "Once these fake IDs were generated by corrupt officials, the illegally 'appointed' teachers became eligible for government salaries. Furthermore, since their recruitment dates were backdated by six to seven years, they also fraudulently claimed arrears, leading to substantial illegal gains for both the school management and the accused officials."
Scale of the Fraud and Ongoing Investigation
The investigation has so far uncovered 93 fraudulent Shalarth IDs linked to teachers from 11 different schools. These IDs were created using forged documents between December 2023 and March 2025. The scam came to light after a formal complaint was filed at the Nashik Road police station on March 27 this year.
Interestingly, the complainant, Bhausaheb Chavan – the deputy director of the education department for Nashik division – is now himself implicated in the case. Inspector Shelke confirmed, "The complainant, Chavan, has been named as an accused in this scam. He is currently absconding and will be arrested soon." Chavan's initial complaint had alleged the involvement of an accounts officer and a superintendent from the salaries unit.
To date, the Nashik EOW has arrested five individuals, including Upasani. The other arrested persons are two zilla parishad employees and two members of school management committees. All previously arrested accused are currently in judicial custody.
Political Response and SIT Probe Extension
The scandal has reached the highest levels of the state administration. Dada Bhuse, a state cabinet minister and senior Shiv Sena politician, addressed the issue on Thursday. He announced that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the alleged Shalarth ID scam has been granted a three-month extension to widen its investigation.
"The SIT has already collected substantial data and information. It now requires more time to expand the probe at a state-wide level," Minister Bhuse stated, indicating that the fraud may have ramifications beyond the currently identified cases.
The EOW continues its investigation to uncover the full network involved in this sophisticated fraud that manipulated the teacher recruitment and payment system for illicit financial gain.
