In 10 months, 100 land in Haryana Police net

KARNAL: Tracing the links of people involved in the Haryana Police constable exam leak case reported in August last year, the special investigation team (SIT) of the Kaithal police has so far arrested 100 people.

The police had in September last year arrested Muzaffar Ahmed of Jammu, who played a key role in providing question paper and answer keys to other accused. Since then, over 80 people have been arrested, revealing that the links of this racket were deeply rooted. Inspector Dalbir Singh, who is heading the SIT, said two more persons, Praveen Kumar of Bhiwani and Sukhwinder Singh of Panipat, were arrested on Sunday.

He said the accused have admitted that they had got the question paper before the exam from one Pradeep, who has already been caught. The incident dates back to August 8, 2021, when Kaithal police had arrested three persons, who had procured the answer keys of the written test conducted by Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) on August 7 and 8. The police investigation revealed that accused Mohammad Afzal Dar of Srinagar, who was arrested from Delhi, was among the main accused who had leaked and sold the answer keys and question paper of the written exam. Ahmed, a resident of Ramban district in Jammu, had taken a copy of the question paper and answer keys from another accused Jitender Singh, who was an employee of the examination agency. Ahmed and one Azaz Amin of Srinagar had allegedly sold the answer keys and question paper to Afzal of Srinagar at ₹60 lakh. Later, Afzal sold them to Raj Kumar at Delhi airport at ₹1 crore, revealed the investigators. The answer keys were then provided to Narender Singh of Hisar, who with the help of Ramesh Kumar, owner of a coaching centre, sold it to candidates at ₹12-18 lakh per person a day before exam.

Kaithal SP Maqsood Ahmed said, “All main accused involved in leaking and selling the question paper have been arrested but now SIT is tracing people who had got the question paper and were in the contact of the main accused.” He said that more arrests were likely in the case in the next couple of days.

Now, SIT is tracing people who had got the question paper.

MAQSOOD AHMED, Kaithal SP