Odisha Crime Branch Cracks Down on School Textbook Scam

Bhubaneswar, Odisha : In a major breakthrough in the Odisha school textbook irregularities case, the Odisha Crime Branch has arrested former SCERT Director Manoj Padhi.

The investigating agency alleges that serious lapses in the preparation, approval and publication of school textbooks caused an estimated loss of ₹175 crore to the State Exchequer, while also adversely affecting public interest.

The Odisha Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested former SCERT Director Manoj Padhi in connection with the ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the preparation and publication of school textbooks for Classes I to VIII.

According to the Crime Branch, Manoj Padhi, who was serving as the Director of Teacher Education and SCERT, was responsible for the overall supervision, coordination, monitoring and approval of the textbook development process under the NEP-2020 framework.

The agency alleged that he knowingly approved and forwarded print-ready manuscripts for publication without proper verification of factual, scientific, geographical, translation and pictorial content.

The Crime Branch said this amounted to criminal negligence and resulted in the publication and distribution of erroneous textbooks, causing an estimated financial loss of nearly ₹175 crore to the State Exchequer and serious damage to public interest.

Based on prima facie evidence, Manoj Padhi has been arrested under Sections 316(5), 201, 61(2), and 3/5 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

He is being produced before the JMFC-III Court in Cuttack, while the Crime Branch has confirmed that the investigation is still underway.

Officials indicated that the probe is continuing to determine whether more officials or individuals were involved in the alleged conspiracy behind the textbook irregularities.

This is a developing story, and more details are awaited.