On July 29, the Chandigarh Administration had issued an official release announcing that Harshit Sharma has been selected by Google for graphic designing and would start at a monthly salary of Rs 12 lakh, once his yearlong training was over. On July 29, the Chandigarh Administration had issued an official release announcing that Harshit Sharma has been selected by Google for graphic designing and would start at a monthly salary of Rs 12 lakh, once his yearlong training was over.

Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday ordered a probe into the official statement released by its Education Department announcing Harshit Sharma’s “selection by Google” at a trainee stipend of Rs 4 lakh per month. On July 29, the Chandigarh Administration had issued an official release announcing that Harshit Sharma, a resident of Kurukshetra and a pass out of Government Model Senior Secondary School at Sector 33 in the city, has been selected by Google for graphic designing and would start at a monthly salary of Rs 12 lakh, once his yearlong training was over.

However, responding to the queries sent by The Indian Express, Google’s spokesperson said, “Currently, we don’t have any information on our records with respect to Harshit Sharma’s candidacy”. The story of Harshit Sharma, who, according to Chandigarh Administration and his school, was selected as a graphic designer with Google, had gone viral.

Secretary, Education, UT, BL Sharma said, “The official statement issued by the education department was not in my notice. I have asked Director, School Education to look thoroughly into the matter”.

UT Director, School Education, Rubinderjit Singh Brar said, “I do remember that the school principal informed me about the boy’s achievement, but I did not see the press release that was issued to the media. The school principal is a responsible person. She must have informed me on some basis. I am inquiring into it. I will have to seek her comments and shall only be able to comment further tomorrow”.

Deepkiran, GMSSS-33 teacher under whom Harshit had received training in Information Technology stream, said, “Harshit came to school and informed us about his selection. I did not see any document pertaining to his selection”.

On July 28, the school principal Indra Beniwal had sent an intimation, under her signature and stamp, about Harshit’s ‘selection’ to Chandigarh Administration citing it as a “National Achievement”.

On July 29, Chandigarh Administration issued an official release that read, “A student of GMSSS-33D, Chandigarh Class XII (IT) stream, Harshit has been selected for graphic designing by Google. He will be trained for Graphic designing for an initial period of one year and will receive a stipend of 4 lakhs per month. After completion of his training he will get remuneration of 12 lakhs per month. He went for an online interview through video conferencing and was selected on the basis of posters designed by him while doing class 12th under the supervision of his teachers. His achievements will act as a morale booster for other students and they will be inspired to make forays into this field. Principal, Mrs. Indra Beniwal congratulated Harshit on his remarkable achievement and lauded the efforts of his teachers too”.

Meanwhile, Harshit and his parents were missing at their home in Mathana village of Kurukshetra. His father Rajinder Sharma was not available for comments. Harshit’s grandfather told The Indian Express that they suspected somebody might have duped their family. “A few days ago, Harshit had received a message on his phone about his selection. When he called back on the same number, it was not reachable. Then he consulted one of his school teachers who congratulated him on his achievement. We were very happy about his selection. We are not aware of any further development,” said Prem Chand Sharma, Harshit’s grandfather.

Harshit’s Facebook page showed – Lives in California, Works at Google. His uncle Ravi said, “Harshit had not got any document yet. But, he received a congratulatory call from some person claiming to be from Google, on phone. Then Harshit got in touch with his school and the school teachers further spread the news. We, ourselves, don’t know what all has happened”.

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