Constable paper leak case: HP government hands over probe to CBI

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 17

Facing flak from the opposition, Himachal Government on Tuesday decided to hand over the probe into police constable paper leak case to the CBI. The decision has been taken to facilitate proper investigation as ten alleged suspects, involved in the case, are from outside Himachal.

Announcing this here on Tuesday, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said so far 73 arrests have been made, including 10 from other states. “The SIT constituted to probe the constable paper leak case has done a wonderful job but to facilitate the probe across India, it was felt that the case should be handed over to the CBI,” said Thakur, at a hurriedly convened press conference.

The BJP regime was under fire for handing over the probe of the case to police officials, when the entire recruitment process for filling up 1334 vacant posts was done by the police department itself. “The Government acted promptly in registering an FIR and constituting an SIT the moment it became clear that the paper had been leaked,” Thakur said defending the Government.

Thakurrevealed that the possible king pin in the case, Shiv Bahadur Singh, was arrested from Varanasi, besides another accused arrested from Bihar. “The SIT has done a commendable job and so far, a total of 73 arrests have been made which includes candidates, their fathers as well as the agents,” he stated. He further said a Swift Desire car, 15 mobile phones, a laptop and an amount of Rs 8.49 lakh was recovered from the agents.

Defending his government, Thakur said the recruitment for filling up 1334 posts of police constables was done in a transparent manner. He said it is wrong to cast aspersions on the state police as the SIT had done a very good job in nabbing the kingpin.

He said the issue must not be politicized as similar things have taken place in the past also. “It was at 11 pm in the night that I ordered registration of FIR when it became certain that the paper had been leaked,” he said. He said doubts of paper leak were confirmed, the moment the toppers in the exam could not answer even basic questions.

The written paper for filling up 1334 vacant posts of constables was held on March 27, 2022 in which 75,000 candidates appeared. All these people had already qualified the ground test, physical, medical and verification of certificates.

There is a lot of resentment among the youth on the cancellation of the exam.

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