Tainted ex-DEO gets official shield ?

Joint Director of School Education allegedly sitting on scam accused Somi Reddy’s file; prevents filing of criminal case to help him get promotion

​Hyderabad: It appears that officials in the Directorate of School Education (DSE) of Telangana have no respect or fear for their superiors.

It is due to this reason an official of the rank of Joint Director (JD) is sitting on a file for over a week that is related to filing a criminal case against former District Educational Officer (DEO) of Hyderabad, M Somi Reddy.

Highly placed sources in the DSE told The Hans India that the District Collector of Hyderabad, who is the chairman of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) at the district level, in his letters dated January 19, sent to the government and the Director of School Education-cum-State Project Director of SSA, G Kishan, had recommended action against Somi Reddy and others accused of siphoning off funds meant for Madarsas.

A couple of days later, Kishan sent his remarks to the government recommending a detailed probe by the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) into the Madarsa scandal from 2008. He also directed the JD, Services, Srihari, to file a criminal case against Somi Reddy and others to the extent of findings of the internal enquiry already conducted in to the misappropriation of funds, the sources said.

Though the DSE-cum-SPD signed the file a week ago, Srihari was sitting on the file under the influence of the powers-that-be operating at the behest of Somi Reddy, sources said.

Whenever action is forthcoming from the higher-ups, though delayed, one or the other official at the lower level is coming to the rescue of Somi Reddy and his coterie of officials. All this delay tactics were being employed only to ensure that the former DEO gets promotion as Joint Director in the School Education Department, sources said.

Not just the School Education Department, but even some police officials of the Central Crime Station (CCS), entrusted with the investigation of a case filed by the Nazim of a Madarsa are also helping Somi Reddy, the sources said.

Though the confession statement of the main accused in the case, Mohammed Zubair, clearly states that he had given Rs 50,000 each to Yogender Kumar and Naseeruddin, both Junior Assistants in the SSA and agents of Somi Reddy, the investigation officer allowed them to walk free for the reasons best known to them, sources said.

Naseeruddin was associated with Madarsa section during 2012-14, while Yogender was in-charge of the section during 2015-16. Both of them took bribes according to the confession statement of Zubair. Besides, they were found guilty of resorting to irregularities in the internal enquiry conducted by the SSA. However, they had not been arrested so far because they were being protected by Somi Reddy, sources said.

Further, one more accused, Mufti Mastan, a government aided teacher at the Islamia Boys High School, who had received a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from Zubair for his role in the scandal has also not been arrested by the investigation officer, Ravinder Reddy on the ground that the accused was absconding.

However, the truth is that Mufti Mastan is attending to his duties at the school every day but the investigation officer has not bothered to arrest the accused for the reasons best known to him, according to sources.

Somi Reddy would be in for a huge trouble if the three accused – Naseeruddin, Yogender and Mufti Mastan were arrested because they would reveal the complicity of former DEO in the scandal, sources said.