Three persons have been arrested for selling books meant for distribution under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to school children of Bazar Shukl primary school in Sultanpur district.

Acting on the complaint’s received by the District Magistrate’s office, the district administration arrested Mazhar, a fourth class employee of the school; Ram Gopal, shopkeeper of a general store and Babloo, scrap dealer.

The administration recovered around 2,600 books worth Rs 26,000 from the scrap dealer. A magisterial inquiry has already been ordered into the incident.

“Prima facie, the evidence indicates that Mazhar (40) had been regularly stealing books meant to be distributed free of cost to the school children,” said Wasimuh Jama Siddiqui, Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA), Sultanpur.

Mazhar sold the books to Gopal, who in turn sold them to Babloo. The role of Block Resource Centre (BRC) officer, Suresh Prakash Shukla, is also being scrutinised. “He is currently under suspension as he did not inform us about the various anomalies,” said Siddiqui.

“While thousands of books had been missing and were being sold off, the BRC had stated that he received all the books and had distributed them to the children as well,” added Siddiqui.