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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted searches in six states at around 36 locations, including the premises of former Chairman and Controller Examination of JKSSB in a case related to the SI recruitment scam in Jammu and Kashmir.
A spokesperson of the premier investigation agency of the country said that Incriminating documents and digital evidences were so far recovered during searches conducted at Jammu, Srinagar in J&K; Karnal, Mahendragarh and Rewari in Haryana; Gandhidham in Gujarat; Delhi; Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Bengaluru in Karnataka.
“In an on-going investigation of a case (RC0042022A0008) related to Sub Inspector (SI) recruitment scam of J&K, the CBI today conducted searches at around 36 locations including the premises of former Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) Khalid Jehangir; the then Controller of Examination JKSSB Ashok Kumar,” CBI spokesperson said, responding to specific media queries about the searches conducted throughout the day.
The CBI in its official statement mentioned that the searches were also conducted at the premises of “gang members domiciled in Haryana; certain teachers; some serving and retired officials of J&K Police, including a DySP and CRPF.”
“CBI had registered a case on August 3, 2022 on the request of J&K government against 33 accused including the then Medical Officer, BSF Frontier Headquarters Paloura; the then member JKSSB; the then Under Secretary, the then Section Officer (both of JKSSB); ex official of CRPF; ASI of J&K Police; owner of a coaching centre Akhnoor; private company based at Bengaluru; private persons and unknown others on the allegations of irregularities in written examination for the posts of Sub-Inspectors in the J&K Police conducted by J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) on March 27, 2022,” the spokesperson said.
The results were declared on June 4, 2022. There were allegations regarding malpractices in the examination. The J&K government had constituted an Inquiry Committee to look into the same.
It was alleged that the accused entered into a 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 an abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts. Violation of rules by JKSSB was allegedly found in assigning the task of setting the question paper to a Bengaluru based private company, the CBI said in its official statement.
Earlier CBI had conducted searches on August 5, 2022 at 30 locations including at Jammu, Srinagar, Bengaluru etc. at the premises of the accused.
“Investigation has revealed the alleged payment of Rs 20 to 30 lakh (approximately) by willing candidates and their families to the accused for accessing the question paper before commencement of the examination. In this regard, involvement of a gang domiciled in Haryana, certain teachers of J&K, some serving and retired personnel of CRPF, J&K Police and JKSSB has allegedly come to light. Investigation is continuing,” the CBI spokesperson added.
After raids on August 5 also, the CBI had stated to have recovered incriminating documents, devices, answer sheets, application forms and OMR files which were very crucial to the case.
“Dr Karnail Singh of BSF who is a medical officer; Avinash Gupta owner of tutorial classes, Narayan Dutt, a member of the JKSSB; and private firm Meritrac Private Limited in Bengaluru which conducted the exams have been named as the accused in the FIR,” the probe agency had said.
Official sources maintained that in J&K, besides the premises of Khalid Jehangir and Ashok Kumar, the raids were also conducted on the premises of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) K D Bhagat, JKP Constable Raman Sharma, Constable Kewal Krishan, Constable Sunil Pangotra, Jagdish Kumar, PRO ex-Deputy Chief Minister (Tara Chand) Vijay Kumar, Jagdish Kumar, Suresh Kumar Sharma, Rakesh Kumar, Thoru Ram & Sons, all residents of Akhnoor, CRPF personnel Amit Sharma, Pawan Kumar and Sunil Sharma.
Amid raids, the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, while addressing a gathering in Poonch reiterated that those guilty would not be spared and would be brought to book. He maintained that gone were days of backdoor appointments and his administration provided jobs to 30,000 youth in a transparent manner but some people were not happy with it.(GK)
