Why Bihar Halted Salaries of Over 10 Lakh Teachers and Police Personnel: Major Fraud Uncovered

Ahead of the festive season, over 10 million government employees in Bihar, comprising nearly 900,000 education sector workers and 130,000 police personnel, are facing a delay in their salary disbursements. The drastic step comes after an audit by the Accountant General (AG) exposed sophisticated financial fraud and irregularities within both departments, sparking what is now being termed a major salary scam in political circles.

Sophisticated System Breaches and Fake IDs Exposed

According to the findings, the irregularities in the police department involved security breaches within the HRMS and CFMS portals. Erroneous onboarding allowed inflated salary amounts to be registered right at the recruitment stage. Through collusion between makers, checkers, and approvers, fake bills were continually processed to drain the state exchequer. However, the scam within the education department proved even more staggering, involving fraudulent employee IDs, manipulated software parameters, and inflated HRA and CTA allocations pushed up by as much to 2,000 percent.

Massive Embezzlement and Five-Year Audit Imposed

Investigators discovered instances where employees drawing a modest salary of around 50,000 rupees were illicitly paid between 6 to 9 lakh rupees monthly. In specific districts, clerks set up fake teacher profiles and funneled millions into the bank accounts of their own relatives. Initial investigations have flagged approximately 5,000 suspicious profiles. The finance department has mandated a comprehensive audit of salary records spanning the past five years across districts, stating that fresh disbursements will only resume after thorough departmental clearance and system rectifications.