Twist in Teacher Impersonation Case: UP Woman Says She Was Never Employed, Documents Were Misused

One name that has been making headlines from Uttar Pradesh over the last few days is that of Anamika Shukla. A government teacher, Shukla has been allegedly drawing salaries from 25 locations to the tune of Rs 1 crore since the past few months.

In a new twist to the story, a woman claiming to be the real Anamika Shukla turned up in Gonda on Tuesday and claimed she was never employed at any of the schools, adding that her documents were misused by miscreants.

Shukla then met Gonda Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Indrajit Prajapati and furnished her documents. She said she has given a written police complaint at the Nagar Kotwali and sought strict action against the culprits.

Speaking exclusively to News18 in Gonda, Shukla said, “I came to know through the media that many people are doing job on my documents fraudulently. I am the real Anamika Shukla and I have put my side of the story to the BSA. I had applied for the science teacher’s post at KGBV in 2017 but could not turn up for the counselling process at the time. I have never done a job at KGBV and at the moment I am unemployed.”

Prajapati told News18, “The matter has come to my knowledge and soon a detailed report regarding this will be sent to the government. The woman named Anamika Shukla hails from Gonda and has completed her education from there itself. She furnished all her documents and it is clear now that her documents were misused.”

Earlier in the day, the state government said a probe into the case has found that Shukla's documents were used in nine schools and a payment of Rs 12.24 lakh was made in six districts in the last 13 months.

"From the probe it has come to light that documents of Anamika Shukla, a teacher, posted in Badaut (in Baghpat) was used in eight other (total 9) Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) schools. A total payment of Rs 12.24 lakh was made to them in six districts and the detailed probe is on," Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi told reporters.

Besides Baghapat, documents of Shukla were used in KGBV in Varanasi, Kasganj, Amethi, Aligarh, Raebareli, Allahabad, Saharanpur, Amedkar Nagar, he said.

"In many other places also the same document were used but in some schools the candidate did not join or absent at many places," the minister said.

The matter came to light when a digital database of teachers was being created.

After much furore over the issue, Uttar Pradesh police announced that the arrest of one Anamika Shukla on Saturday in Kasganj district. The SHO Kotwali even claimed that they were questioning the accused.

Meanwhile, Shukla tendered her resignation to the Kasganj BSA through a friend who was detained at the office and later on it was claimed that Anamika Shukla was also arrested. It was being claimed in various media reports that Anamika Shukla is a resident of Mainpuri district.

The UP Special Task Force has reportedly tracked down at least 26 more teachers who are either working by impersonating genuine serving teachers, or have fudged their educational certificates.

In what could be just a tip of an ice-berg, these tainted teachers were tracked down to Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Balrampur, Shravasti, Deoria, Sitapur, Barabanki, Hardoi, Gonda, Unnao, Santkabir Nagar, Farrukhabad and Pratapgarh.

According to a senior STF official, out of 26 tainted teachers, 13 have submitted the documents of other serving teachers, while 10 have fudged their educational marksheets.

Also, three tainted teachers have been accused of using fake government transfer orders to get teacher job in far flung districts. Basic Shiksha Adhikaris of the above regions said districts have been asked to register FIRs against these teachers.

Some of these tainted teachers have been serving for more than 20 years now while one of them is even scheduled to retire next year. The UP STF had launched many operations to nab these tainted teachers.

In 2019, the STF had nabbed three such people from Sitapur who were taking salary for almost five years on the documents of someone else serving as a teacher simultaneously in Gorakhpur. As per information, the STF had busted as many as 253 such fraudsters since 2018.