BHOPAL: An RTI activist has been arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district for allegedly prompting a government primary school teacher to burn himself alive.
While the middle-aged RTI activist Jitendra has been arrested on May 26, for mentally harassing and blackmailing primary school teacher Rajesh Tripathi, which allegedly prompted Tripathi to immolate self in Hatta town of Damoh district on May 15, more primary school teachers have approached the Damoh district police against the same RTI activist.
According to informed sources, Bhatt had complained to the authorities alleging that the primary school teacher Tripathi got the government job by using a fake BEd degree.
Police investigations revealed that the RTI activist was harassing and blackmailing Tripathi in the matter, to regularly get money from him. “After forcing Tripathi to pay him around Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, Bhatt had recently started demanding that the school teacher pay him half of his salary every month,” Damoh district police superintendent Shrutkirti Somwanshi told TNIE.
Burdened by mounting debts worth over Rs 50 lakh taken from bank and private money lenders to construct a house as well as regularly pay money to Bhatt accompanied by continued threats by the RTI activist to get him sacked from the job over the fake degree, compelled Tripathi to burn himself alive while returning from Hatta town his village on May 25. He died during the course of treatment at hospital later, the SP-Damoh added.
Bhatt has been booked under BNS Sections for mentally harassing Tripathi and abetment of suicide.
“At least 5-10 more school teachers who have been terminated or are facing probe by the authorities for using fake degrees/certificates to get government job, too have approached the police and complained against Bhatt, alleging that he was blackmailing them for a long time and forcing them to pay money running into lakhs of rupees. We’re investigating those complaints and more FIRs may be lodged against the arrested RTI activist in the coming days,” Somwanshi said.
Importantly, the services of over 20 government school teachers in Damoh district have been terminated recently after a departmental probe confirmed they had secured jobs using fake degrees. In most cases, the complaints were filed by RTI activist Jitendra Bhatt, who, according to the dismissed teachers and others facing similar inquiries, had allegedly been blackmailing them for money over the past several years.