BHUBANESWAR: A day after launching its probe into the alleged irregularities in school textbooks, the Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Tuesday arrested suspended OAS officer and former director of Teachers Education and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Manoj Padhi (57) in the connection.
The agency said the lapses that resulted in publication and distribution of erroneous textbooks caused a loss of around Rs 175 crore to the state exchequer. After his arrest, Padhi was produced in the JMFC-III, Cuttack and sent to jail.
Sources said Padhi was arrested after four hours of intense grilling by the Crime Branch during which he failed to give a satisfactory response as to whether the textbook contents had undergone proper scrutiny prior to their printing.
Issuing a statement, the agency stated that prima facie the evidences were found to be well-established against Padhi under sections 316(5), 201, 3(5) and 61(2) of BNS.
Investigation revealed Padhi, while functioning as the then director of TE and SCERT, was entrusted with overall supervision, coordination, monitoring and approval of the textbook development process under the National Education Policy (NEP) - 2020. “However, he dishonestly failed to discharge the official duties entrusted to him and knowingly approved and forwarded print-ready manuscripts for publication without ensuring verification of their factual, scientific, geographical, translation and pictorial contents, amounting to criminal negligence,” the agency stated.
Such acts and omissions resulted in publication and distribution of erroneous textbooks, causing wrongful loss to the state exchequer to the tune of `175 crore, it added.
Based on the complaint filed by the present TE and SCERT director Madhusmita Sahu, the agency registered a case under relevant sections of BNS and formed multiple teams to investigate the matter. The Crime Branch is also investigating the role of other officials and experts entrusted with the work of textbook preparation, proofing and quality check at different levels.
A group of activists have also demanded that a deputy director rank official of textbook press be also brought under the purview of investigation in the ongoing probe.
A staggering 1,678 factual, typographical and printing errors were detected in these textbooks across subjects, prompting the state government to form a three-member committee headed by development commissioner DK Singh to look into the matter.
Based on the committee’s findings, the government suspended Padhi and three assistant directors in June last week, while initiating disciplinary proceedings against six other officers.