Guwahati, Dec 3 (PTI) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police on Friday filed the first charge sheet against 40 accused people - 33 teachers and seven middlemen - for allegedly obtaining and facilitating fake Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) certificates in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). A detailed 1175-page charge sheet listing 106 witnesses and 38 material objects was filed before the Kamrup Metro Chief Judicial Magistrate within 60 days from the date of registration of the case on October 3, 2021, according to a press release issued by Assam Police. A lecturer of a government college in Nagaon, and three state government employees are among the accused middlemen. The case was registered by the CID following the directions of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The 40 accused were arrested from Kamrup (Rural), Chirang, Udalguri, Nagaon, and Hojai districts and remanded to judicial custody. Investigation revealed that the teachers had fraudulently obtained fake TET pass certificates from the main accused by paying lakhs of rupees through middlemen. The pay-in-slips that were used for depositing the money collected from the candidates were seized from various bank branches in the BTR area and Kamrup district. The handwriting on the pay-in slips matched with the specimen writings of the arrested middlemen and the money was trailed to the main accused. The TET certificates submitted by these candidates for securing appointments were also proven to be fake and fabricated through experts. A computer hard disk containing the images of fake TET certificate, documents containing the list of candidates, and blank TET certificates were seized from a press from where the fake certificates were printed, the release said. The printing press was sealed during the investigation. Further investigations are on to trace a few more accused who are absconding and also for identifying similar other fraudulent appointments in the Education Department, the release added. PTI DG MM MM