The current CEO decided to conduct an audit before despatching the books to TNPL
case against the former chief education officer of Coimbatore, T. Rajendran, for the mysterious disappearance of 350 tonnes of old Samacheer Kalvi textbooks meant for distribution to school students
Coimbatore: The Coimbatore police have booked a case against the former chief education officer of Coimbatore, T. Rajendran, for the mysterious disappearance of 350 tonnes of old Samacheer Kalvi textbooks meant for distribution to school students.The former CEO, posted in Chennai, has been placed under suspension, sources said here. A recent audit of the old Samacheer Kalvi textbooks by the education department has uncovered a major textbook scam. As many as 350 tonnes of textbooks were missing, prompting the education department to lodge a complaint with the Coimbatore city crime branch police.
Preliminary investigations shows the prima facie involvement of the former chief education officer Rajendran in the scandal, said police sources. According to the sources, the Samacheer Kalvi textbooks, which were printed during the former DMK government’s regime, were dumped after the new AIADMK government took charge. The textbooks were reprinted after deletion and addition of certain pages.
The discarded old textbooks were kept in the godowns fo the Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation for being despatched to the Tamil Nadu Newsprints Ltd (TNPL) for recycling. However, when the officials decided to conduct an audit before despatching the books to TNPL, curiously, all the books were missing. Immediately, current chief education officer A. Gnanagowri lodged a complaint with the police.
After an initial probe, a case has been registered under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC against the then CEO Rajendran and four officials from the education department — Saravana Kumar, Arul Jothi, Sethuraman and Prince Solomon. Cases have also been registered against Karthikeyan, a staff of Tamil Nadu Text Book Corporation, and a school headmaster, Lourde Xavier, for the fraud. Further investigations are on.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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