BHAWANIPATNAA/BALANGIR: The fake certificate scam in the postal department now seems to have spread its tentacles to other departments in the state as well. A fake school leaving certificate (SLC) mentioning false date of birth submitted by an anganwadi worker came to the fore in Bhawanipatna on Monday.
Ironically, the anganwadi worker Jhunupama Satpathy of Upkabhata anganwadi centre of Deypur village under Kalahandi district who is under the scanner, is also a state-level secretary of Anganwadi workers association.
Sources said the matter came to light after an RTI activist Anjan Rath sought authenticity of the date of birth details mentioned by Satpathy in her certificate. Later, verification by the district social welfare office (DSWO), Kalahandi and the administration revealed that while Satpathy’s original date of birth was March 10, 1961, the date mentioned in her SLC certificate was March 10, 1965, to reportedly allow her to be in service beyond her superannuation age.
Sub-collector Biswajit Das said Satpathy was asked to clarify her stand on the said discrepancy but she could not come up with a reason despite several chances given to her. “Necessary departmental action and steps to retrieve the additional honorarium received by her, have been taken. Besides, legal action will also be taken against the errant anganwadi worker. In the meanwhile, she applied for resignation but it was not accepted,” he added.
On the other hand, seven persons including some government employees were detained on Monday in connection with the fake certificate scam in Balangir. The Crime Branch (CB) further moved the SDJM court seeking permission to send the computer and hard disk seized from Reliance Education Centre, to a laboratory in Bhubaneswar. Besides, the CB also interrogated the wives of the main accused Manoj Mishra and Alok Udgata.
Briefing mediapersons, deputy superintendent of police, CB, DB Chakra said over 200 people are under scanner in connection to the scam. “Police will call them to phase by phase for interrogation and arrest those found guilty,” he added.
Meanwhile, sources said, Town police have formed two teams to investigate the matter. While one will be engaged to nab the culprits, the other will verify documents of the coaching centre run by accused Manoj Mishra.