Mastermind, printing press worker among five held in Bihar: DGP

SHIMLA: In a major breakthrough in the Himachal Pradesh Police constable recruitment paper leak, the mastermind of the operation and the printing press employee who stole the question paper were arrested with three of their associates in Bihar on Wednesday.

The arrested accused are Arvind Kumar, Subodh Kumar, Sudhir Yadev and Gore Lal Yadav of Nawada district, and Gautam Kumar Bharti of Athmalgola town in Bihar.

Director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Kundu said, “Arvind was the mastermind of the operation. Sudhir, a part-time worker at the printing press where the question paper was printed, stole a copy and handed it over to Gore, a security guard in a New Delhi-based company.”

“Gore handed over the examination paper to Bharti, who gave it to his brother Bharat Yadav. Subodh acted as intermediate between Sudhir, Gore, Bharat, and Arvind,” the DGP said.

Kundu said, “Gangs from Bihar, Utter Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Himachal Pardesh played part in the paper leak, and some coaching centres are also under the scanner.”

So far, 121 people have been arrested in the case, including 85 candidates, three relatives of candidates, and 33 agents, of which 18 are from Himachal.

The special investigation team has also seized ₹10 lakh cash from the agents, six cars, different gadgets, memory cards, mobiles, debit and credit cards, laptops, bank passbooks and other incriminating documents.

Rumours about the paper leak had been circulating since the exam was held, but authorities had denied the same.

The Kangra district police confirmed the paper leak on May 4 after it arrested three candidates during the document verification process.

The candidates had scored around 70 out of 90, while their Class 10 score was below 50%. They were also inable to answer simple questions during document verification, and were subsequently were arrested.

After the leak came to light, the exam was cancelled, and an SIT probe was ordered. It is estimated that the paper was sold to around 2,000 candidates for ₹5 -₹8 lakh. After the involvement of inter-state gangs was found, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur announced a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in the case on May 17.

However, the case, is yet to be handed over to the central agency. The leak has snowballed into a major political controversy with opposition parties trying to corner the government over the issue and alleging involvement of ruling BJP leaders and state government officials in the paper leak.