E-Paper
Curbing impersonation in recruitment exams a tough task in Haryana
The Haryana Staff Selection Commission has adopted several mechanisms to preserve the sanctity of the exam but they are continuously being outfoxed by the mafia
Haryana Police have arrested at least 34 persons on impersonation charges in connection with the common eligibility test (CET) for Group D posts on October 21 and 22 but the crackdown has done little to deter the nexus of the state’s examination mafia. Of these 34 persons, a woman sub-inspector (SI) who was posted in Bhiwani was held for appearing in place of her friend and a woman constable was also nabbed by the police.
The accused, Amar Lata, who was posted as sub-inspector in Haryana police, had appeared in place of her friend Pooja and a constable Kavita had appeared for her friend Ritu. The duo was caught in the Guhla area in Kaithal on October 22. A day earlier, Vikas Kumar of Rajli village in Hisar, who worked as a Class IV employee at the irrigation department in Narwana, Jind, appeared for the exam at SD Girls’ School in Hansi in place of candidate Pramod of Sanchal village, Fatehabad. The police arrested him and sent him to judicial custody.
The Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) has adopted several mechanisms to preserve the sanctity of the exam but they are continuously being outfoxed by the mafia. Two years ago, the state government passed the Haryana Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2021, which led to a jail term of upto 10 years and a fine of ₹10 lakh on exam mafias but still the mafias are running their racket without any fear of law.
HSSC chairman Bhopal Singh said artificial intelligence-based face recognition technology was used at the examination centres to verify the identity of candidates and many accused were held for impersonation.
Kaithal superintendent of police (SP) Upasana said both the women cops told the police during interrogation that they had appeared in the exam for their friends who could not get jobs despite many years of preparations.
“ For the sake of friendship, the duo cops had appeared in the exam for their friends. They were booked for impersonation at Guhla police station,” she added.
The Delhi Police had caught two paper mafias- Kapil of Sampla and Vedpal of Chiri village in Rohtak in connection with the Group D exam and recovered admit cards, phones and bags of many aspirants from them. According to Delhi police officials, they had received information on October 21 that some paper mafias from Haryana are active and they have called many Group D aspirants to Delhi.
“When we reached near a park at Baprola village, two men were sitting inside a car and nearly 12 youths were standing outside it. After seeing the police team, the youths fled and we recovered admit cards, phones and bags from the two accused. They had called the youths to Delhi to give them Group D question papers in advance and had taken money in lieu of their selection. Another accused, Robin, who was arrested by Punjab Police a few months ago in a recruitment scam, is on the run and efforts are on to nab him. These accused have a history of paper mafia and they used to take money from aspirants and provide them with a question paper with a solution in advance to youths preparing for various jobs,” said a senior police official.
Two youths, one from Rohtak and another from Hisar, told HT that they went to Delhi on October 20 as the exam mafias promised them to provide a question paper in advance and they stayed in the Dwarka area till 2 am.
“The mafias told us to go back in the morning to respective exam centres and the question paper provided by them was fake. We have given them ₹3 lakh each in advance and we don’t know whether they would return the amount or not,” the aspirants added.
Aam Aadmi Party state chief Sushil Gupta alleged that the Group D exam paper was leaked and was provided to aspirants by taking money from them.
“Why is chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar not acting against HSSC chairman Bhopal Singh, under whose tenure many recruitment papers got leaked,” he added.
