4 toppers held from Nalagarh in constable paper leak case

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 15

The Solan police arrested four constable recruitment exam toppers in the district, who had visited Panipat on March 26, a day before the written exam was held. They met middlemen of the paper leak gang, who shared them questions and answers.

SP Virender Sharma said the four candidates were toppers from Nalagarh and had been picked up this morning. Though they secured between 40 per cent and 50 per cent marks in the matriculation exam, they had topped the constable recruitment written test by securing 68, 69, 72 and 73 marks out of 80.

A case under Sections 201-B and 420 of the IPC was registered against them for criminal conspiracy and cheating in Solan.

The initial probe revealed that they had used a common vehicle to visit Panipat where they were tutored about the questions which they would face in the written exam. They had gone in the morning and, after attending a 2-hour tutorial, came back in the evening and stayed at Solan.

A probe into their cellphone details had revealed that they had visited Panipat on March 26. The police will now conduct investigations to know how much money was transacted to gain access to question paper.

The Solan police had identified 38 candidates who had secured 65 and more marks in the written exam in the district. They were interrogated by the police and an attempt was made to find out if they had secured the marks on their own or if they had access to the question paper in advance.

As many as 1,496 candidates had appeared in Solan district which also comprised the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt.

Six persons arrested earlier at Arki had, however, not bought paper as they either did not have the paying capacity or were not confident that the callers were genuine. They had, however, passed on the information to others, who were appearing in the recruitment.

Call details procured

• Though the accused secured 40 to 50 per cent marks in the matriculation exam, they topped the constable recruitment test with 68, 69, 72 and 73 marks out of 80.
• During the probe, their cellphone details revealed that they had visited Panipat on March 26.

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