JAMMU, SEPTEMBER 13: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday conducted searches at 36 locations across the country as part of its ongoing investigations in a case relating to an alleged scam in the recruitment of sub inspectors in Jammu and Kashmir.
Claiming to have seized incriminating documents and digital evidences, it said that searches were carried out in Jammu and Srinagar in J&K, besides Haryana’s Karnal, Mahendergarh and Rewwari districts, Gandhidhan in Gujarat, Delhi, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh andBangalore in Karnataka. The premises searched belonged to a “former chairman and the then Controller of Examination of the Jammu Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB), gang members domiciled in Haryana, certain teachers in J&K and some serving and retired officials of Jammu Kashmir Police and CRPF including a DySP, it added.
The investigations have so far revealed that Rs 20-30 lakh were allegedly paid by the willing candidates and their families to the accused for accessing the question paper before the commencement of written examination, a CBI statement here said.
Following request from Jammu and Kashmir Government, the CBI had registered a case against 33 accused including a Medical Officer who was then posted at the BSF headquarters, Paloura in Jammu, son of a BJP leader, a serving Assistant Sub Inspector of Jammu Kashmir Police, a former member and ex-officials of Jammu Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) among 33 people booked in August last for alleged malpractices in the written examination held for the posts of sub inspectors in Jammu and Kashmir Police which were held on March 27 last.
The accused against whom FIR was registered, according to CBI officials included Dr Kanail Singh, Medical Officer at BSF Frontier Hqrs in Paloura, J&K, former member of the JKSSB Narayan Dutt, besides its then under secretary Bishan Dass and and the then section officer Anju Raina, besides an Assistant Sub Inspector of J&K Police Ashok Kumar, ex-CRPF official Ashwani Kumar, and M/s MeritTrac Services Private Limited, Bengaluru, a company offering assessment services and examination management services to corporate organizations, educational institutes and government agencies.
Sourav Bral, son Bhushan Bral – a BJP’s District Development Council member from Bhalwal Brahmana in Akhnoor tehsil, his uncle Roshan Bral, a teacher posted under Rehbar-e-Taleem programme, besides Avinash Gupta and Akshay Kumar, owner and manager of EDUMAX Classes (coaching centre) at Akhnoor were also named as accused in the FIR registered by the CBI.
The other accused named in the FIR included Sourav Sharma, Sunil Kumar Verma, Jai Suriya Sharma, Bandhana Sharma, Rohit Choudhary, Ravi Kumar, Kapil Sharma, Paras Sharma, Sumit Sharma, Dheeraj Sharma, Shubham Patyar, Sahil Patyar, Rahul Singh, Mamta Langeh, Rohit Langeh, Rahul Sharma, Tarlok Singh, Sachdev Singh, Anshuman Sharma, Aakash Jalotra, Ankita Sharma, Shubam Kala (all private persons) and unknown others.
Pointing out that the written examination for the posts of sub inspectors was conducted by JKSSB on March 27 and the results were declared on June 4 last, a CBI spokesperson said a case was registered in the matter on the request of the J&K Government following allegations of malpractices in the examination.
The J&K Govt had earlier constituted an Inquiry Committee to look into the matter and it was alleged that the accused entered into conspiracy amongst officials of JKSSB, Bengaluru based private company, beneficiary candidates and others, and caused gross irregularities in conduct of written examination for the posts of Sub-Inspectors. It was further alleged that there was abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts, officials said.
The CBI probe had come less than a month after the Jammu and Kashmir government cancelled the recruitment of police sub-inspectors. The cancellation order had come from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha following an enquiry report by a three-member committee headed by financial commissioner (additional chief secretary-home) R K Goyal.
The selection list of 1200 people out of 97,000 candidates, who had appeared in the written exams was displayed online on June 4 by the JKSSB. However, several aspirants had raised questions over the list and described it as “unfair”, with various political parties also joining the chorus.
