Total arrests go up to 20, more not ruled out
*JKP official arranged transport for candidates for Haryana
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 10: The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) today arrested seven more accused including four CRPF personnel and son of a Jammu and Kashmir Police ASI in connection with Sub Inspectors paper leakage scam, taking total arrests in the case to 20.
Several CRPF, BSF, Indian Reserve Police (IRP) and Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) personnel were involved in the racket and some of them have been arrested. They misused their uniform to transport question papers and beneficiary candidates from one place to another, officials told the Excelsior.
They identified the arrested accused as Pawan Kumar, Head Constable CRPF son of Om Prakash, a resident of Khanpur Mandhana Kalan in Narmol area of Mahendergarh, Haryana, Sunil Sharma, constable/cook CRPF son of Romesh Chander Sharma R/o Lehar Sungal, Akhnoor, Amit Kumar Sharma, CRPF constable son of Ram Lal Sharma, a resident of village Sohal in Kaink Jageer area of Akhnoor, Jaisuriya Sharma, son of JKP ASI Ashok Kumar (who is already in CBI custody), R/o Chowdraywalla, Pallanwalla, Atul Kumar, CRPF constable son of Purshotam Lal, a resident of Bahrampur in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, Tarsem Lal Sharma, a private conduit son of Ganesh Dutt Sharma, who hails from Jandial Thathi in Aghor Bhalwal area of Jammu and Ashish Yadav alias Monu, a private conduit son of Rajesh Kumar of village Budhipur in Rewari area of Haryana.
All of them were produced before the court today by the CBI officials. They were remanded to 10 days in police custody.
The arrests have taken total number of the persons arrested by the CBI in paper leakage scam so far to 20 including CRPF, IRP and JKP personnel. A BSF Medical Officer, who is in the rank of Commandant, was among those arrested by the investigating agency.
More arrests in the case haven’t been ruled out.
They said the agency had questioned them in Jammu before taking them into custody.
The CBI is likely to file first charge sheet in the paper leakage scam at anytime now. The charge sheet is likely to reveal role of the Services Selection Board (SSB) officials in the case.
So far, no SSB official has been arrested.
The CBI had conducted searches on Tuesday at seven locations in Jammu, Pathankot, Rewari and Karnal in connection with the recruitment scam.
The CBI took over the investigation into the case on August 3 on a reference from the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
It had arrested 13 persons in connection with the case earlier. Out of 13 accused arrested earlier, nine are in judicial custody and four in police custody. Seven persons arrested today are in the CBI custody for questioning to extract more clues about the paper leakage.
The case pertains to the leak of the question paper for the examination through which 1,200 posts of Sub-Inspectors were to be filled by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board.
“Investigation had revealed that the alleged payment of Rs 20 to 30 lakh (approximately) was made by willing candidates and their families to the accused for accessing the question paper before the commencement of the examination,” the sources said.
The agency had recently arrested one Pradeep Kumar, working at an Okhla-based printing press as packing in-charge.
He allegedly stole the examination question paper at the time of packing and sold it to Rewari-based Yatin Yadav, who was also arrested in the case.
According to the sources, it was Yadav who contacted the other touts based in Jammu and Kashmir to lure candidates for the sale of the leaked question paper, they said.
The candidates were transported from Jammu to Karnal in vehicles arranged by Jammu and Kashmir Police ASI Ashok Kumar, then posted at Nowabad Police Station, a day before the examination.
In Karnal, tout Bajinder Singh arranged a hotel where candidates were handed over the leaked question paper, the sources said.
They said a CRPF personnel allegedly provided the leaked question paper to certain candidates.
The exam results were declared on June 4 this year. After the allegations of malpractice in the conduct of the exam surfaced, the Union Territory Government constituted an inquiry committee to look into the matter.
“It was alleged that the accused entered into a conspiracy amongst officials of JKSSB, a Bengaluru-based private company, beneficiary candidates and others, and caused gross irregularities in the conduct of written examination for the posts of Sub-Inspectors.
It was further alleged that there was an abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts.
The JKSSB allegedly violated rules in outsourcing the setting of the question paper to a Bengaluru-based private company, the sources said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
