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Uttarakhand Vigilance finds irregularities in destruction of OMR sheets in SI exam
A senior vigilance official said some staffers of the university, which conducted the SI 2015 exam, are under the lens
The Uttarakhand vigilance department investigating the alleged irregularities in the sub-inspector recruitment 2015 has found conspiracy in the destruction of OMR sheets of the candidates, a senior official said on Monday.
“There is a statutory process to weed out OMR sheets, but it wasn’t followed in the SI 2015 exam as part of the conspiracy. It came to light when we tried to verify the gathered evidence during the investigation. Some staffers of the Pantnagar university, which conducted the exam, are under our lens,” said the official, who didn’t wish to be named.
“Also, a committee is constituted before weeding out the sheets and its members shall give their consent to it. However, some signatures for permission to carry out the weeding process are missing from an official record,” he added.
Amit Sinha, director, vigilance department, confirmed that they have found irregularities in the destruction of the OMR sheets in the SI exam and will take action soon.
He, however, said he can’t reveal much due to ensuring the integrity of the probe.
“Our three teams are working on the case. Two teams are from the Kumaon region, one from Garhwal. One of our teams also went to Lucknow to collect evidence from there,” he added.
At least 35 SIs, who are deployed in different districts, are suspected to have passed the sub-inspector exam, the officials said, adding they will be arrested once concrete evidence against them is gathered.
The government has recently registered a case against 12 accused, including two officials of Pantnagar university, who allegedly rigged the exam, under Sections 420, 466, 467, 201, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3, 45, 7, 9 and 10 of the UP Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act and 7(a), 12, 13(1)(a) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The state government on October 7 gave its nod to the vigilance department for the registration of FIR in connection with the alleged irregularities in the 2015-16 sub-inspector recruitment.
Prahlad Narayan Meena, superintendent of police, vigilance sector Haldwani, said they had just begun the investigation into the matter and collecting evidence against sub-inspectors who passed the exam through unfair means.
The state government last month asked the vigilance department to conduct a probe into the SI exam after the special task force of police found evidence of tampering with the OMR sheet to benefit some candidates in the exam during its UKSSSC paper leak investigation. The exam for the posts of 339 sub-inspectors was conducted by GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. The recruitment was made during the Congress tenure.
