SHILLONG: The CBI probe concerning the education scam recorded statements of two pressure group leaders who had lodged the FIR in ths case.
CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing and Thma u Rangli Juki (TUR) member Angela Rangad gave their statements before the CBI on Monday.
Kharshiing said the CBI had asked for their statements because they were the original complainants.
The CBI is on the lookout for two supporters of former education minister Ampareen Lyngdoh.
The initial CBI report had mentioned that JD Sangma, then director of Elementary and Mass Education, disclosed that based on the letters and slips of paper containing recommendations with respect to candidates for appointment as LP school teachers, he with the help of two unidentified persons, who were supporters of Lyngdoh, had applied white fluid on the score sheet and inflated the marks of the candidates ordered to be appointed by the minister.
This tampering of the scorecard was partially made at the residence of the minister and at Sangma’s office.
The CBI registered a case against Lyngdoh, Additional Chief Secretary PS Thangkhiew, who was then Principal Secretary in charge of education, the Directorate of Elementary and Mass Education (DEME) and other unidentified persons.
Earlier, though Sangma was quizzed by the central probe agency, Lyngdoh and other ministers and MLAs who had recommended the names of their favourite candidates were left unscathed.
The 107-page first probe report of the CBI said: “It was felt necessary to examine JD Sangma, then Director of DEME.
In the course of his examination, Sangma stated that under the instruction of then minister of education, Ampareen Lyngdoh, he had to change the score sheets by applying white fluid on the original marks as awarded by the Board. Sangma also handed over a file containing a list received by the minister from different persons, MLAs/ or ministers recommending the names of the candidates for selection as teachers in LP schools of Meghalaya.”
The CBI court has granted bail to four accused persons — Thangkhiew, former legislators Sniawbhalang Dhar and Donkupar Massar and Jowai South MDC Moonlight Pariat.
While Thangkhiew was the principal secretary in-charge education when the scam rocked the state, Dhar, Massar, Pariat and other political leaders had recommended the names of preferred candidates for appointment as teachers.