RAIPUR: In a glaring case of administrative oversight, the School Education Department in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district suspended a primary school headmaster nearly nine months after a court convicted and sentenced him to five years in prison for attempted murder. The action followed revelations that the educator continued to draw his government salary while serving time behind bars.
The headmaster, Vijay Kumar Yadav, was posted at the Government Primary School in Penderkhi under the Udaipur development block in Surguja. He had been booked by the Manipura police in 2019 on charges of attempted murder.
On January 3, 2026, the First Additional Sessions Court in Ambikapur found him guilty and sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment, after which he was lodged in Ambikapur Central Jail.
Under statutory service rules, any government servant detained in custody for more than 48 hours is subject to deemed suspension. However, local education authorities reportedly took no notice of the conviction or his imprisonment, allowing his official service and remuneration to proceed unhindered for months.
The convict walked out of prison in October 2026 after obtaining conditional bail from the High Court.
The department was jolted into action only after social activist Parvez Alam Gandhi lodged a formal complaint with the Surguja District Collector, questioning the apparent negligence and complicity of supervisory officials.
Following the complaint, an official suspension order was issued on October 22, 2026. The district administration has served show-cause notices to the then Block Education Officer (BEO) and the Cluster Academic Coordinator (CAC) for failing to report the conviction and incarceration.
Senior officials in the Surguja district administration revealed that a fair probe has been instituted into the matter, warning of strict departmental action against all responsible officials once the final inquiry report is submitted.
