Orissa HC orders CID probe into staff selection commission question paper leak

The court also allowed the candidates who were barred by OSSC from writing the exam to appear in the subsequent examination though their exam results will depend on the outcome of the case

The Orissa high court on Saturday ordered CID probe into the alleged question papers leak in the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) JE (Civil) Main written examination.

The Orissa high court ordered that the probe should be conducted by a DIG-ranked official or above. (File Photo)

On July 23, OSSC cancelled the written examination for filling up 1,008 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) in various departments after police in Balasore district said the question papers were leaked before the entrance examination on July 16. The question papers were given to several candidates by the accused in a hotel in Digha beach of West Bengal in the guise of those being sample papers. Following the incident, OSSC announced that a fresh exam would be held on September 3.

The HC ordered that the probe should be conducted by a DIG-ranked official or above. The court also allowed the candidates who were barred by OSSC from writing the exam to appear in the subsequent examination. However, their exam results will depend on the outcome of the case.

Earlier, the Balasore Police arrested 17 persons, including the mastermind behind the case, from Bihar. The gang headed by Vishal Kumar Chaurasia, working with rural works department of Patna, used to get some lower officials working in the printing presses and lure them with money to part off with the question papers before they were sent for respective examinations. They then contact candidates who are willing and provide them with the leaked question paper calling it sample papers. The gang was involved in leakage of question papers in recruitment of sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector conducted by Central Staff Selection Commission in 2013-14, state civil service main and preliminary examination of Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission in 2013-14 and combined preliminary examination conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission in May 2022.