E-Paper
Seventh FIR in Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission paper leak case, 10 booked
A total of 10 people, including kingpin of paper leak racket Uma Azad, her agent Sanjeev Kumar, the former secretary of disbanded Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission Jitender Kanwar, and two peons Kishori Lal and Madan Lal among others have been booked.
Digging up more evidence, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau has filed the seventh FIR into the paper leak scam involving erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission (HPSSC) and booked 10 people.
Superintendent of police (vigilance) Rahul Nath said that during the investigation the SIT has discovered evidence that the paper of junior office assistance (IT) recruitment exam held in 2021 under post code 817 was also leaked.
A total of 10 people, including kingpin of paper leak racket Uma Azad, her agent Sanjeev Kumar, the former secretary of disbanded HPSSC Jitender Kanwar, and two peons Kishori Lal and Madan Lal among others have been booked.
Azad was serving as the senior superintendent in HPSSC’s secrecy branch when the scam was busted in December last year.
The Vigilance SP said that the accused have been booked under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The exam in question is already mired in controversy and its final result was withheld due to a case pending in Supreme Court.
Over 1 lakh candidates appeared in the exam
The HPSSC had invited applications for 1,160 posts of JOA (IT) in September 2020. The number of vacancies was later increased to 1,756. More than 1.07 lakh candidates appeared in the exam held on March 21, 2021. The typing skill test was delayed due to the case pending in high court and was held from July 2021 to March 2022.
Over 4,332 candidates were shortlisted for the evaluation process which was held from August 1 to 31, 2022.
However, the final result could not be declared due to some candidate moving the Supreme Court challenging the high court of Himachal Pradesh order giving a go ahead to conduct the recruitment process.
The HPSSC paper leak racket was busted on December 23, 2022, when a candidate filed a complaint with the vigilance that some people offered to provide him with the solved question paper of the JOA (IT) exam (Post Code 765) slated for December 25.
Subsequent raids unearthed a racket being operated by Uma Azad, a senior official of HPSSC, with the help of her two sons and some agents.
The state government initially suspended the HPSSC and later dissolved it in February 2023. The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC), Shimla, has been entrusted the responsibility of completing the process for pending recruitments.
Vigilance has registered 7 FIRs into paper leak scam
Date Exams
23/12/2022: JOA (IT) post code 939
28/12/22: Junior auditor (post code 1036) and computer operator (1003)
03/03/23: Drawing teacher (arts teacher) post code 980
11/03/23: JOA (IT) post code 939
22/03/23: Traffic inspector post code 819
29/04/23: State secretariat clerk exam post code 962
05/06/23: JOA (IT) post code 817
