UP teacher earns Rs 1 crore in 13 months: First of '25 Anamikas' arrested, but she turns out to be Priya

AGRA/LUCKNOW: Two days after TOI broke the story about a full-time science teacher, named Anamika Shukla , found working at 25 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) schools throughout the state and having drawn over Rs 1 crore in salary in the past 13 months, at least one 'Anamika Shukla' was arrested from Kasganj district on Saturday.
But she turned out to be one Priya from Farrukhabad, leading cops to believe that it could be possible that multiple candidates used credentials and 'eligibility' of Anamika Shukla, who remains elusive. It could be possible that it's a handiwork of a well-entrenched gang, they say.
"No officer, employee who connived with this teacher in providing her job at KGBV and subsequently hiding it, will be spared," basic education minister Satish Dwivedi told TOI. The minister said that it was very shocking that a teacher who was appointed in KGBV, which is a residential school, continued on rolls even when she remained absent.
According to officials, after receiving an alert from the state capital about the fraud, they had detected one teacher, who went by the similar name, working at Faridpur KGBV in Kasganj district.
Kasganj Basic Siksha Adhikari Anjali Agrawal said, "On June 4, we served her notice asking her to present all her documents for verification. After forming an investigative committee, on Friday, we found that documents furnished by the teacher were forged. Her salary account was immediately frozen."
"On Saturday, the accused teacher went to the bank to withdraw her salary. Once she found the bank account frozen, she went to the school to collect her belongings and later came to my office to submit her resignation. We had informed the police beforehand and she was handed over to them," the BSA said.
She was booked for cheating and forgery under IPC’s sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating).
According to police, the woman claimed that she had paid Rs 2.5 lakh to a Mainpuri-based man to get this job. She used Anamika Shukla’s credentials to get the job while her real name is Priya, daughter of Mahipal, who is resident of Lakhanpur village of Kayamganj police limits in Farrukhabad district.
Soron station house officer Ripudaman Singh said, “During interrogation, the accused initially claimed to be Anamika Singh, daughter of Subhas Singh. However, her documents are in the name of Anamika Shukla, daughter of Subhas Chandra Shukla. The accused claimed that she paid a hefty amount to a Mainpuri-based man for the job and was posted in Faridpur KGBV since August 2018.”
According to the UP government, five more Anamika Shuklas have been found working in KGBVs in Ambedkar Nagar, Baghpat, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Prayagraj districts. Teachers in KGBV, a residential setup for girls from weaker sections of the society, are appointed on contract and are paid approximately Rs 30,000 per month. Each block in a district has one Kasturba Gandhi School.