Overview
- A fire broke out around 8 a.m. on April 27 in rooms 14 and 15 of the Directorate of Education office in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
- Firefighters battled the blaze for over three hours, with no casualties reported, though some personnel experienced electric shocks from a live inverter.
- Hundreds of files related to aided schools and an ongoing teachers’ recruitment scam investigation were completely destroyed in the fire.
- Preliminary findings suggest an electrical short circuit as the likely cause, though investigations by a high-level government committee and the police are ongoing.
- The destruction of sensitive records has raised concerns about the integrity of ongoing probes into alleged corruption in teacher appointments and school funding.