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Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, August 25
The constable recruitment scam that was cracked by the SP Kangra, Vimukt Ranjan, is giving sleepless nights to many. Sources said that investigations into the scam might lead police to similar frauds in other recruitments carried out in government departments in the last few years. The investigations might also lead police to certain government officials who might be hand in glove with main accused in the case.
Sources told The Tribune that the main accused in the case Vikram, a resident of Jawali, was still eluding police. Most of the revelations in the case are likely to emerge after he is arrested. Till date the police have arrested 29 accused in the case. Those arrested include imposters from UP, Haryana, Himachal and Rajasthan, the candidates who hired the services of main accused and their parents who allegedly paid for services.
The sources here said that the main accused was carrying out his operations of helping candidates pass entrance examinations for various government services for the past about seven to eight years. He might be having accomplices in other states also through which the imposters were arranged.
The modus operandi of the accused in the constable recruitment was to hire imposters for giving examinations in place of candidates. The imposters used to carry technical gadgets such as cameras, blue tooth devices and speakers into examination centres and might have been seeking help to solve the examinations from outside. The fact that the imposters were sure of getting into the examination centres indicates that the main accused might be having some support in the staff that was conducting examinations.
Though the scam was caught in Kangra district, the sources said that the police was suspecting that similar fraud might have been carried in other districts also during police recruitment. The written examination of the entire constable recruitment has already been cancelled.
However, many are now also raising doubts about ground tests. A youth from Fatehpur area had appeared before the SP Kangra and alleged that he had cleared the ground examination but later he did not find his name in the list of candidates who had cleared the examinations. He had requested the SP the check the camera recording of physical examinations to ascertain if he had cleared the ground test or not. The SP had assured to probe into the matter.
During the stint of the previous Congress government many recruitments, like KCC bank recruitment examination were carried out by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education. The BJP, then in the Opposition, had alleged fraud in the recruitments. The BJP had even included the charge in its charge sheet filed against the previous government. However, after coming to power, the party has not done anything to probe the recruitment. Some police officials feel that main accused in the constable recruitment might be having role in recruitments carried out during the stint of the previous Congress government also.
SP Kangra Vimukt Ranjan refused to comment about the ongoing investigations. He said that anyone found guilty during the course of investigation would not be spared.
Modus operandi
The modus operandi of the accused was to hire imposters for giving examinations in place of candidates. The imposters used to carry gadgets such as cameras, bluetooth devices and speakers into examination centres. They might have been seeking help to solve the examinations from outside. The fact that the imposters were sure of getting into the examination centres indicates that the main accused might be having some support in the staff that was conducting examinations.
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