HCS judicial paper leak: HC pulls up Chandigarh police SIT for ‘lapses’

The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC), on Friday, came down heavily on the special investigation team (SIT), constituted to probe the alleged leak of Haryana Civil Service (HCS) judicial exam.

The SIT is headed by superintendent of police (SP-crime and investigation) Ravi Kumar.

The examination for 109 HCS (judicial) posts was conducted on July 16, 2017. Following a petition in the high court in August 2017, an HC probe panel had found that the paper got leaked. Now, Balwinder Kumar Sharma, then registrar (recruitment) is one of the accused in the case besides two women candidates. The police have already filed a chargesheet in the case.

During the resumed hearing, the full bench presided over by justice Rajesh Bindal came to know about an April 10 order of the Chandigarh trial court in which the lower court had asked UT to give six statements given under oath by different witnesses, to accused persons.

The UT police said that it was not happy with the order but as there was some delay in procuring, the order could not be challenge before the high court. However, the court questioned as to why the order was not challenged by the police.

Now, the court has directed the UT to give details as to when the police applied for the copy of the order. Besides, the high court administration has also been asked to find out when the copy of April 10 order was made available. The SIT also submitted a sealed cover report in the high court and also said that it had found more ‘links’.

UT POLICE UNDER ‘PRESSURE’

The court also warned the SIT that it would hand over the probe to another agency, if the SIT failed in proper investigation. At one point, the police told the court that they were under “pressure”.

However, when questioned by the bench, the police could not explain as to what kind of pressure they were talking about. Meanwhile, the high court also asked the Central Forensic Laboratory, Chandigarh, to give its report on audio clips sent for examination at the earliest.

IN AN APRIL 10 ORDER OF THE CHANDIGARH TRIAL COURT, THE LOWER COURT HAD ASKED UT TO GIVE SIX STATEMENTS GIVEN UNDER OATH BY DIFFERENT WITNESSES, TO ACCUSED PERSONS