Meghalaya 'white ink' case: SC notice to Ampareen Lyngdoh on CBI appeal

The Supreme Court has issued notice to former Meghalaya education minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and two retired education department officials on an appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the High Court order that ended the 2008 teacher recruitment case against them, Meghalaya Monitor reported on Sunday.

The CBI moved the apex court through a special leave petition (criminal). After a hearing last month, the court asked Lyngdoh and the other two to respond, the report said.

The other two are J.D. Sangma, former Director of Elementary and Mass Education, and Ameka Lyngdoh, former Deputy Director.

What the High Court had ruled

In September 2025, a single bench of the High Court of Meghalaya headed by the then Chief Justice I.P. Mukerji quashed the charges against all three and discharged them. The order came a day before the Chief Justice retired, according to Meghalaya Monitor.

The bench set aside an August 23, 2022 order of the Special Judge (CBI), East Khasi Hills, which had turned down the accused persons' pleas for discharge. The High Court held that the prosecution had not made out even a prima facie case. It also pointed to the slow pace of the trial, observing that examining all the witnesses at the current rate could take up the rest of the accused persons' lives.

The CBI's argument

According to the report, the CBI questions why the High Court did not call for the trial court records before quashing the case, given that the same High Court had earlier directed the probe to be handed to the agency. The CBI also argues that the High Court could have asked the trial court to speed up the hearing or cut down the number of witnesses instead of ending the trial.

The agency's stand is that its 2020 charge sheet was based on evidence, including the alleged use of white ink to erase marks on score sheets.

The case so far

The case relates to alleged manipulation of score sheets in the 2008 recruitment of assistant teachers for lower primary schools, which covered Shillong, Jowai, Amlarem, Tura and Dadenggre. Lyngdoh was the education minister at the time.

A police case was registered in 2011 on a complaint, and the High Court later transferred the probe to the CBI, which registered its case in 2018 and filed a charge sheet in 2020. The trial was under way when the High Court quashed the proceedings. Lyngdoh has maintained that she did nothing wrong, and the allegations have not been proved in any court.

The next date of hearing in the Supreme Court was not reported.