Meghalaya teachers recruitment case: CBI searches residence of Cong MLA

The CBI today searched five locations in Shillong, including the residence of an MLA and the Directorate of Elementary and Mass Education, in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers in 2008-09, officials said here.

The locations searched included the residence of Congress MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh, who was the education minister at the time of the scam.

The CBI has booked Lyngdoh and senior IAS officer P S Thangkhiew for allegedly manipulating score sheets during the recruitment of teachers in 2008-09, an official said on Thursday.

Acting on the orders of the Meghalaya High Court, the CBI had registered an FIR under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy, forgery, and criminal breach of trust against Lyngdoh, who was the education minister at the time of the alleged scam, and Thangkhiew, a 1984-batch IAS officer, who was then principal secretary education, the official said.

The high court had on November 2, 2016 ordered the CBI to take over the probe from the Meghalaya police into the alleged manipulation of score sheets and interference in the selection of assistant teachers in lower primary schools in 2008-09.

It is alleged that Ampareen instructed J D Sangma, who was the then director (elementary and mass education) and two of her supporters to tamper with and forge the score sheets by applying "white fluid".

The complainant alleged the minister, in collusion and connivance with other members of the Assembly, carried out largescale manipulation in the selection process for the appointment of assistant teachers.