Police file chargesheet against 61 in HP constable paper leak case

21 MIDDLEMEN, THREE PARENTS, 37 CANDIDATES NAMED IN THE CHALAN FILED IN THE COURT OF CJM, SHIMLA

The Himachal Pradesh Police filed a chargesheet against 61 accused in the constable recruitment paper leak case on Thursday, a week after 91 persons were chargesheeted in the court of the Kangra chief judicial magistrate.

Officers of the Crime Investigation Department filed a chargesheet against 21 middlemen, three parents , and 37 candidates in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Shimla.

Of the 61 accused, 27 are from Mandi, 11 from Hamirpur, seven in Una, six in Sirmaur, four in Kullu and three each in Bilaspur and Chamba.

So far, the Special Investigation Team has arrested 171 people including 44 agents, 116 candidates and nine relatives of candidates from Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Punjab, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Delhi. They were booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed)and 120B (criminal conspiracy) in Kangra, Bharari and Solan.

State awaits CBI nod

After the government was targeted over the paper leak case, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who also holds the home portfolio, announced a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case on May 17.

However, the CBI is yet to agree to takeover the case.

The state government’s home department has sent another reminder to the central agency asking them to probe the scam, which has snowballed into a political controversy in the pollbound state.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on July 1 had filed a charge sheet against 70 candidates, 20 middlemen and the father of a candidate.The police had also constituted a board of officers comprising inspector general (communication and technical Services (CTS), deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Police Training College (PTC) and deputy controller (finance and accounts) to look into the acts of omission by the police officers involved in the constable recruitment exam.

Director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Kundu has also directed the SIT to probe the involvement of police officers in the paper leak case.