Prez Murmu asks state govt to probe JSSC paper leak
: President Draupadi Murmu has directed the state government to probe the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) combined graduate level (CGL) exam paper leak on January 28 and the serious allegations of connivance against the officials, people close to the development said on Friday.
The President’s office forwarded a letter in this connection to the joint secretary in the Jharkhand cabinet secretariat and vigilance department on Monday.
It also attached the original complaint filed by the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) leader on February 1, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter.
“I filed a complaint to the Rashtrapati Bhawan on February 1, drawing the attention of the honourable President of India, Draupadi Murmu, towards the question paper leak of the JSSC CGL exam on January 28 in a well-planned manner by JSSC staff and the outsourced agency conducting the exam. The exam was also scheduled to be held on February 4, but on the first day, question papers were leaked on general knowledge, Hindi, English, and regional language,” Kritibas Mandal, AJSU East Singhbhum district secretary and an RTI activist, told HT on Friday.
The deputy secretary in the Rashtrapati Office, JB Subramanian, forwarded a letter, a copy of which is with HT, to Nilam Lata, the joint secretary in the state cabinet secretariat and vigilance department, on February 5, directing them to look into the allegations and respond, one of the people in know said.
“Instead of acting against erring officials and the agency, the state government has lodged FIRs against 15 named aspiring student activists and 4000 other JSSC examinees. This seems like an attempt to whitewash the irregularities. The state government is playing with the lives of lakhs of students,” Mandal said in his complaint.
The state government formed a special investigation team (SIT) headed by the Ranchi deputy superintendent of police (DSP, Sadar) on Wednesday to probe the question paper leak.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) central general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya on Friday in Ranchi said, “Our SIT is better than CBI. We will investigate the JSSC paper leak with our SIT. Questions have also been raised against CBI’s credibility.”