The Chandigarh administration on Tuesday initiated an investigation into a 16-year-old boy’s claim that he was hired by Google as a graphic designer for a Rs 1.44-crore package, reported the Hindustan Times. The administration had issued a press release about Harshit Sharma’s achievement on July 29.
“I am inquiring into the matter. I can only comment by tomorrow [Wednesday],” Chandigarh Director of School Education Rubinderjit Singh Brar told the Hindustan Times. Public Relations Director Navjot Kaur, too, said they were looking into the matter.
Meanwhile, Google said it has no record about Sharma’s employment, reported The Indian Express on Tuesday. “Currently, we don’t have any information on our records with respect to Harshit Sharma’s candidacy,” the daily quoted unidentified officials from the company as saying.
Sharma, a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, had also claimed that he would be leaving for California on August 7. He was also reportedly going to receive a stipend of Rs 4 lakh per month while training for a year with Google.
Sharma had credited his uncle for his success. “Whatever I am is because of my uncle and I owe my selection to him as I never joined any professional institute for training,” he had said.
However Sharma’s uncle told the Chandigarh Tribune that he had not got a job offer from Google. “It was through media reports that I learned about Harshit landing a job with Google,” he said. “The situation has become very awkward and embarrassing. But we had no idea on the turns of events.”
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