CBI raids seven locations in Punjab, Haryana and J&K

JAMMU : The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on Tuesday conducted raids at seven locations in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana in the Jammu and Kashmir police sub-inspector recruitment scam. While CBI did not confirm if some persons were detained for questioning during the raids, its official spokesperson confirmed that the searches were conducted in Jammu, Pathankot, Rewari and Karnal.

“CBI today conducted searches at seven locations including Jammu, Pathankot, Rewari and Karnal in an ongoing investigation of a case related to J&K police sub-inspector recruitment scam on the premises of accused and others,” said an official spokesperson of the CBI.

CBI had registered a case on August 3 on the request of the government of J&K to investigate the allegations of irregularities in the written examination conducted by J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) on March 27 this year for the recruitment of 1200 sub-inspectors in the police.

The result of this examination was declared on June 4.

The locations covered in the searches on Tuesday pertained to CRPF constable Kashmir Singh and IRP constable, J&K police Vikas Sharma in Jammu, CRPF constable Atul Kumar, a private person Tarsem Lal in Pathankot, CRPF constable Surender Singh and Yatin Yadav in Rewari and Sulinder in Karnal.

In this case, 13 accused, including the then commandant of BSF, one ASI of J&K police and two former constables of J&K police, a former CRPF constable and an ex-CRPF official along with a government teacher has been arrested to date. Searches were also earlier conducted around 77 locations including the premises of the then chairman and controller of J&K Services Selection Board.

A cash of ₹61.79 lakh was recovered.

During the investigation, it was found that the question paper was allegedly leaked by the accused (a resident of Rewari, who was arrested on September 19 and is in judicial custody) with the help of an employee of the printing press.

“It was also alleged that the accused contacted touts based in J&K, including constables of J&K police and CRPF for soliciting candidates who were charged amounts ranging from ₹20 lakh to ₹30 lakh for the question paper,” he said.

The CBI on Monday arrested four more accused including a former assistant sub-inspector of J&K police and a CRPF constable. The four were identified as ASI of the J&K police Ashok Kumar, CRPF constable Surinder Kumar, packing incharge Vajinder Singh and Pradeep Kumar from Karnal and New Delhi, respectively. Notably, a case against 33 accused was registered over alleged irregularities in the recruitment scam.