UP police recruitment exam: Were question papers kept unguarded at warehouse?

UP DGP said the paper leak happened due to the negligence of the outsourced agency but refused to identify the agency involved in the printing process, saying it was against norms

LUCKNOW In an era of high-tech surveillance, question papers of UP Police’s biggest recruitment exam for 60,244 posts of constables were apparently left unmonitored at an Ahmedabad warehouse of a transport company, which was hired by an agency selected by the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board for printing and transporting papers to examination centres safely.

The question paper leak suggested that an outsider easily went inside the warehouse with the help of its employees and clicked photographs of question papers after opening the storage trunk, said a retired IPS officer. (Pic for representation)

“It’s strange...there was apparently no vigil over the outsourced agency in an era when even the common man has access to 24x7 CCTV surveillance of his house/office on mobile phone. In case of the outsourced agency’s negligence, whose accountability will be fixed in the absence of standard operating procedures regarding monitoring of question papers,” asked a retired IPS officer.

“The board conducting the exam should have directly monitored the outsourced agency. If norms didn’t allow it to monitor the agency directly, it should have been ensured that the outsourced agency was equipped enough to maintain surveillance on the printing, transportation and storage of question papers,” he added.

However, UP DGP Prashant Kumar said the paper leak happened due to the negligence of the outsourced agency but refused to identify the agency involved in the printing process, saying it was against norms.

Another official associated with the police recruitment process said the process was so tedious that larger dependency was on the outsourced agency to ensure the sanctity of the examination process.