Lucknow: Former Deoria basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) Shalini Srivastava, who was wanted in a teacher suicide case, was arrested from Delhi by Gorakhpur police on Wednesday. Police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 on her arrest. Srivastava is accused of abetting the suicide of assistant teacher Krishna Mohan Singh. He had named Srivastava and department clerk Sanjeev Kumar Singh of mental harassment and demanding money in exchange for restoring his job in a handwritten suicide note and video message before ending his life in February this year.
Police had earlier secured non-bailable warrants against Srivastava and initiated proceedings to attach her property after she went into hiding. Police said Srivastava was traced to Wazirabad in North Delhi by teams from Gulriha police station with assistance of surveillance units, where she was staying alone in a rented room. She was arrested and produced before a court.
In her police complaint, Mohan Singh’s wife Gudia said her husband was appointed as assistant teacher at Krishak Laghu Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Deoria on July 1, 2016. In 2023, appointments of Singh and two other teachers were cancelled and they challenged the decision before Allahabad high court. On February 13, 2025, the court reportedly quashed the cancellation order and directed authorities to pass a fresh order.
Despite the court’s intervention, clerk Sanjeev Kumar Singh demanded Rs 16 lakh each from the three teachers for restoration of their appointments. The FIR said the teachers paid amounts ranging from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 16 lakh in instalments. Krishna Mohan was called to BSA office on February 20 and was humiliated and harassed, following which he committed suicide.
Police registered a case against then BSA Shalini Srivastava, clerk Sanjeev Kumar Singh and others. Retired principal Aniruddh Singh has already been arrested while the clerk is absconding, said Nimish Patel, SP City, Gorakhpur.
