HSSC chief writes to Haryana DGP, seeks thorough probe into paper leak

Tribune News Service

Kaithal/Karnal/Hisar, Aug 8

The Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) has written to the Director General of Police, Haryana, for a thorough probe into the paper leak of the police constable (male) examination conducted by the HSSC on Saturday.

HSSC chief Bhopal Singh Khadri wrote to the DGP after six persons were arrested in Kaithal on Saturday.

“As per the information provided by Kaithal Superintendent of Police (SP), the answer key of the exams held on August 7 was seized from the accused. So there is a need to investigate the matter and take necessary action,” said Khadri.

As many as 17 persons have been arrested so far. The Kaithal police produced six accused arrested on Saturday in a court on Sunday. Three accused have been sent to judicial custody. The remaining three have been sent to nine-day police remand. The Kaithal SP has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) led by a DSP and involving two teams of the CIA-1 and CIA-2 to crack the case.

The HSSC had scheduled the examination for the post of constable (male) on August 7 and 8 in two shifts —morning and evening. After the paper got leaked, the HSSC cancelled the exams.

Confirming the update, Kaithal SP Lokendra Singh said the CIA-1 team arrested six persons. These included Sandeep, Gautam, residents of Khand village in Jind and Naveen of Pyonda village with the answer key. Later, the police arrested Ramesh of Thua village, Rajesh of Kichana village and Narinder of Hisar.

Ramesh was the kingpin who used to provide answer key and also sent fake candidates instead of original candidates. For the exams on Saturday, he made deals at Rs 12 lakh per candidate. The police had registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC.

During investigation, it came to light that they had circulated the answer key to several aspirants through WhatsApp. Some were provided hard copy of the answer key. The payment would be made only after the answer key was to be found correct. They had taken advance cheques from some aspirants, said the SP.

The answer key was delivered to the aspirants one night prior to the examinations.

“We produced all six accused in the court. Ramesh, Sandeep and Narinder were taken on nine-day police remand,” the SP added.

About the involvement of any insider from the HSSC, Lokendra said it was a partof the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Karnal police have arrested sixpersons allegedly impersonating as candidates.

Four accused — Ronak, Vicky of Sonepat district, Mohit of Rohtak and Bijender of Jhajjar district — have been taken on five-day police remand. Ajay of Rohtak district has been taken on three-day police remand and Ranjan Alok from Lucknow has been sent to police custody.

Meanwhile, the Fatehabad police have arrested three persons in connection with the case. They have been identified as Bhan Singh of Kaithal district, Kunal and Satish of Fatehabad district.

The police have registered a case under Sections 417, 420, 511 and 120B of the IPC at Fatehabad police station. Sanjay Dahiya and Amit Sodhi were arrested on Saturday.

DSP Daljeet Beniwal said that Kunal runs a coaching centre in Fatehabad town and the police got a tip-off that the coaching centre owner had procured the answer key. The police raided the coaching centre and found the answer key in the mobile phone of the accused.

Satish was also detained from the coaching centre. During interrogation, the arrested accused revealed that they had got the answer key from one Bhan Singh, a resident of Kaithal district.