The mother of the 16-year-old boy who hit the headlines after claiming that he got a job offer of Rs 1.4 crore annual salary from Google said on Wednesday that the boy never got any letter from the internet giant but a phone call. The person on the other end of the call said he had been selected for the post of a graphic designer, she told HT in an exclusive interaction in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
“Harshit got a phone call; we did not believe at first. We doubted the information as there is always the possibility of fake calls. He further told his school principal about it. The principal then released the press note which led to media outlets covering it in a big way,” said his mother, Bharti Sharma, adding that all this has “devastated” the life of her son.
It was on Tuesday that Google had denied having offered any paid training and job to Harshit Sharma, who passed out from a Sector-33 government school in Chandigarh earlier this year. The UT administration has ordered a probe into controversy and is likely to make report public on Thursday. “ I have got the report but not seen it,” said Rubinderjit Singh Brar, director, school education, Chandigarh UT. The UT had released a press note on his “achievement” on July 29. The release had claimed that he would be paid 12 lakh a month as salary after a year’s training and during training he would get a stipend of Rs 4 lakh per month.
The boy hasn’t eaten since Tuesday and is hospitalised, said his mother. “There is no improvement in his condition and the doctors say he is traumatised. Those who were congratulating us are now taunting us,” she said.
Where did ‘offer letter’ come from?
Bharti claimed that the principal’s claims on letter being provided by her son are not true. “He had only told her about the call he got,” she claimed thus putting question mark on counter claims of principal Indra Beniwal who has been stating that it was given to a teacher by Harshit.
The mother said, “The principal too did it (released information to media) in excitement. There was no self-interest. We do not want to blame her or any other teacher.”
The letter provided by school authorities now has mistakes and does not have any salary details. But Beniwal alleged that the family has been evading the authorities and not been forthcoming.
It was on July 29 that the UT administration’s public relations department had released a statement that Harshit Sharma, who completed Class 12 from Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 33, this year, had bagged an offer from Google. This press release had led to several media outlets reporting this news.
Hailing from Mathana in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district, Harshit had told HT: “I kept searching for jobs online... I applied for this job in May, and was interviewed online. I have been interested in graphic designing for the past 10 years. I was selected on the basis of the posters I designed.”
Harshit’s parents are teachers. His younger brother studies in Class 10. During his time at the school, he stayed with his uncle at Dera Bassi.
Mother too confirmed that Harshit had applied for a job. I kept telling him call could be fake. “When the news was published, and the people started reaching our home, we thought there might be something,” she said adding ‘We thought probably the principal has some confirmation.’
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