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U’khand paper leak scam: S Raju admits mafia, political pressure in govt recruitments
A day after S Raju resigned from Uttarakhand Subordinate Selection Service Commission (UKSSSC) chairman’s post on “moral grounds”, the retired IAS officer in an interview with a Hindi news channel on Saturday admitted to the “mafia” and ”political” pressure in the government recruitments
A day after S Raju resigned from Uttarakhand Subordinate Selection Service Commission (UKSSSC) chairman’s post on “moral grounds”, the retired IAS officer in an interview with a Hindi news channel on Saturday admitted to the “mafia” and ”political” pressure in the government recruitments.
He was posted as UKSSSC chairman in 2016 and his term was due to end in September this year.
Amid an investigation into the alleged graduate level exam question paper leak case, Raju said “the mafia couldn’t digest the transparency and fairness with which the commission was working for the past six years.” Raju said they (mafia people) were continuously working to malign the image of commission through some political leaders.
“Only two exams of the 88 conducted during my term were marred by rigging since 2016,” he said.
He also claimed that he did “face political pressure during his term but never succumbed” to it and added that he has no connection with any political leader.
After stepping down, Raju said that though no name of any UKSSSC official or worker has come to light in the ongoing investigation, however, it was proved that the paper was leaked and aspirants lost confidence in the conduct of commission.
“I am taking the moral responsibility for it,” he said.Raju said that he is disheartened by the allegations levelled against him and that nobody called him dishonest throughout his service as an IAS officer.
He said during investigation, he found selection of over 80 candidates “suspicious”. Raju subsequently gave the names to police on the basis of which they are now taking action.
Meanwhile,deputy leader of opposition and MLA Khatima, Bhuwan Kapri said that they were satisfied with the special task force (STF) investigation but justice will only be served when all the culprits are behind the bars.
“But..it shouldn’t happen that by taking action on small fishes, big names are saved,” the Congress leader said while seeking a CBI investigation into the matter.
So far, 13 people have been arrested in the case.
Police sources said the role of a zila panchayat member in Uttarkashi district is being probed. Of the 13 accused, three are court officials, a former Class IV employee of UKSSSC, a computer programmer associated with the commission via an outsourcing agency, a coaching centre director, a police constable, two employees of a medical university based in Dehradun, and rest are job aspirants.
Police said that the accused used to charge ₹10- ₹12 lakh from candidates in exchange of questions.
Some accused also cleared the graduate-level UKSSSC exam held on December 4 to fill 916 vacancies, the police said.
After chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ’s intervention, a fraud case was registered at Raipur police station on the complaint of a UKSSSC official.Following this, the probe was handed over to the STF.
