The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) has cancelled the preliminary examination held on July 3 for appointment of junior engineers in the state following the arrest of a Giridih resident by Ranchi police for allegedly leaking the question paper hours before the examination began.
The JSSC issue the cancellation notification on Monday. “The diploma-level combined examination-2021 held at Ranchi, Bokaro and East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) districts on July 3, has been cancelled. The next date of examination would be updated on the commission’s website,” reads the notification.
Naushad Alam, superintendent of police (SP), Ranchi (rural), said on Tuesday that they wrote to the commission providing details of the case after they arrested one of prime accused, Ranjit Mandal.
“During the investigation, it was established that the questions papers and answers which were circulated through WhatsApp hours before the examination matches with the actual paper. We provided all details to the commission related to the case,” said Alam.
Soon after the examination was conducted, allegations of paper leak started doing rounds. Police finally cracked down after it received a formal complaint.
“Mithlesh Mahto from Dhanbad had lodged a formal complaint on July 14 with Namkum police station over the issue. A person named Ranjit Mandal, resident of Giridih district, has been arrested and sent to jail after his role was established in the investigation. We have clear leads of Mandal being part of an interstate gang spread over Jharkhand, Bihar and other states. We are working on the leads and are confident of getting more in net,” said Alam.
{{/usCountry}}“Mithlesh Mahto from Dhanbad had lodged a formal complaint on July 14 with Namkum police station over the issue. A person named Ranjit Mandal, resident of Giridih district, has been arrested and sent to jail after his role was established in the investigation. We have clear leads of Mandal being part of an interstate gang spread over Jharkhand, Bihar and other states. We are working on the leads and are confident of getting more in net,” said Alam.
{{/usCountry}}Refusing to share any further details on the kingpin at this stage, the officer said they have leads on the real mastermind of the racket, who is said to have sold the question paper in the range of ₹15-20 lakh.
On whether insiders were involved in the paper leak, Kaam said they were not ruling out the possibility of involvement of few government officials. Things would be clear only after investigation completes, he said.