Himachal constable exam scam: Man, son arrested for buying question paper

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan,May 17

A father-son duo has been arrested by the Arki police today in the constable paper leak case after an agent from Bilaspur confessed to have taken Rs 4.5 lakh from them in lieu of sharing question paper.

As per probe conducted by the police, Balbir Singh was a worker at Baddi while his son Kuldeep Singh was working as a photographer at Arki.

“Kuldeep Singh was contacted by an agent in March. He also met Ramesh Bhardwaj, another agent arrested by the Bilaspur police from Shimla for selling the paper to an aspirant in Bilaspur. He fixed the meeting where the nitty-gritty of the deal was finalised,” said SP, Solan, Virender Sharma.

A deal was finalised for about Rs 5.5 lakh. Kuldeep had secured 66 marks in the written exam held on March 27 while its result was declared on April 6.

The SP also said the four youths arrested from Nalagarh on Sunday were taken to various places in Haryana, including a hotel at Panipat, for spot identification. A probe was under way.

Though 75 candidates and agents have been arrested by SIT from various districts and states, several questions are yet to be answered.

The key point like who had provided the cellphone numbers of candidates to agents in as early as December when barely the physical standard exam was conducted is yet to be known.

Questions are also being raised over the physical standard exam though police officials assert that the process was videographed. The gang involved in the scam had become active ever since the constable exam was announced last year.

The gang appears to be professional as they have left behind a limited digital evidence where only middle-rung agents have been arrested and the kingpin is yet to be known.

Unanswered questions

• Questions like the role of the police officials, who allegedly provided the excel sheet of candidates along with their phone numbers and addresses to the gang, are yet to be answered.
• No officer has as yet been zeroed in by SIT probing the case since May 9.

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